I disclaim.

I should be studying for exams...Oh well.

I had a break-in at my house almost a month and a half ago and the thieves took my laptop. All my work is gone. Everything. No, I didn't have it backed up anywhere but then again, no one expects to have someone climb through your bedroom window and steal your stuff. But i'll live. I'll just have to write again. But I lost all my final year of high school pictures and videos :(

Hey, I can still write. And I have time to. So lets get on with it.

Its short, yes. Shortest I've done, I think.

Dedicated to Ru-Doragon who will continue to be my grammar Nazi until I get it write.

Summary:It probably wasn't the wisest decision for them to be doing this in the room next to the banquet hall where the most important persons in the Lower Elements were gathered... Oh well, such is life.

Title: Lipstick stains

By Aleauxvander

There was a moment, less than a heart beat before Holly's back hit the adjacent wall and Artemis was on her like a second skin.

"—Artemis, no—" Oh sweet, heavenly father that felt amazing, "—we shouldn't be doing this."

Her lover was, well, a bit distracted at the moment and she couldn't blame him (Yes. Yes she could) because the same gut wrenching, weakening pleasure he was experiencing was blinding her and Holly tried, oh how she tried, and failed, to push him off and away from her.

He kissed her, deep, wet and amazing, silencing her and for a moment, Holly's fingers curled into his hair, pulling him to her, kissing him, begging him with her lips before she remembered she was trying her damndest to stop this.

She pulled away from him, which did little to deter him, only made him focus on the column of her neck, smooth and scented lightly with perfume as he worshiped it with nips and warm, hard suction to her pulse, just beneath the strap of her dress.

It was the dress- it had to be the dress- that had made his eyes darken and he had kissed her neck chastely, telling her softly that she looked breath taking. Or maybe that they hadn't seen or been with each other in 3 months and it was unfortunate that this event was the only excuse they had to see each other.

But that didn't matter, because there was nothing but a door and paper thin walls separating them from the crowded ball room where her commanding officer, the head of the Lower Elements Police, celebrities, the Chairman and other Council members mingled. This was the socialite event of the season and she had been invited due to her and Artemis' part in helping The Lower Elements time and time again. She was being given an award for Frond's sake but that hadn't stopped Artemis from toeing her from the banquet hall into this penny-sized, dusty store room. And at the rate of things, and their vicinity to the bathroom's hallways, they were going to be discovered.

Artemis' warm, large hands woke her from her distracted worries, sliding effortlessly and calmly under her dress and up her thigh, pulling her against him while pushing her further into the wall, leaving her suspended, bare foot, off the carpeted floor of the store room.

Her breath hitched embarrassingly in her throat and she closed her eyes tightly, pursing her lips against the sudden urge to whimper, but instead, swallowed thickly against the rising pleasure as her head fell back against the wall.

"Artemis," she all but sighed his name in an attempt to sound firm and unaffected and she felt him smile against her neck, felt his free hand slide the strap off of her right shoulder, watched, in a haze of lust as his head disappeared from sight and his lips burned a hot path down her neck, to her shoulder, down across her sternum. "They're…" she really couldn't care less where they were right now while her head was swimming, "Stop."

She had uttered the last word in a breathy, light headed sigh and seeing as saying ' stop' in the middle of amorous encounters was tantamount to saying and usually equated to ' if you stop I kill you' she wasn't at all surprised when his knee slipped between her parted thighs and moved up, up, up—

His hand slapped over her mouth and muffled her loud, agreeable response and in the dim light of the small room, she saw him grin.

"Now now, Holly," he purred, "quiet. We can't be caught now, can we?"

When she wasn't seeing doubles, Holly's strong grip wrenched his hand away from her mouth and she hissed at him bellow the hum of the classical music outside.

"That's why you shouldn't be doing thi—" whatever he did, she couldn't recall, only remembered her words stuttering to an embarrassing end when another wave of pleasure washed over her, accompanied by his mouth on her skin and his hands- god, his hands- everywhere.

Then she gave in, simply wove her small, thin fingers through his dark hair, bringing his lips up to hers and kissed him, wildly as his hands gripped her hips and thighs, holding her to him and he robbed her of common sense.

It probably wasn't the wisest decision for them to be doing this in the room next to the banquet hall where the most important persons in the Lower Elements were gathered but, oh frond, it had been three months and he smelled, tasted and felt amazing—

"—Captain Holly short for her unrelenting and unparalleled service to the Lower Elements—"

There was nothing to dampen ardor quicker than the realization that the award you are being presented with is taking place.

Holly pulled away from her lover, ignoring the sound of displeasure he made as he tried to follow her evading lips but she simply put her fingers to his lips in silence.

"Did you just hear my name?"

Artemis didn't wait even a heart beat.

"No." His tongue was tracing the shape of her neck once more.

"No, I mean it—" damn it, that felt really, really good. She shuddered, "— we need to go." She said more sternly, though her voice was still a soft, ravaged, murmur "Like now."

"Must we?" he whined not unlike a petulant child.

Holly wiggled out of his grasp, falling to the floor easily and slipped her shoes back on, one hand supporting her against the wall as she stared up at him.

"What are you, 12 or 21?"

"If being 12 could keep you inhere, then the answer seems obvious." He drawled though his reluctance was evident.

"That would be more than robbing the cradle; that would be something close to beating it and throwing it in front of a moving vehicle."

"Funny." He said, evidently displeased. She smiled at him and fixed her dress.

She stood up, fixing her hair as well a she could, and reached up to set his tie in place. He needed a hair cut she noticed. Though his hair was combed back for the occasion, their little thirst in the room left the longer, heavier strands falling into face, covering his solitary brown eye like a bang. She swept it back, pulled out a dark hair pin from her hair and secured it, out of sight, but in place.

"I'll go ahead first." She said and when she realized he still hadn't smiled, tipped on her toes to plant a chaste kiss on his lips, "we'll finish this when we get home."

The dark glint was suddenly in his eyes once more and he straightened his collar as if his following words were the most normal things to say, whispered against her ear.

"I'll make you scream."

She only stared at him, lips parted while she struggled for something to say.

He pushed her towards the door.

"Go." He said with a smile, "they are waiting for you."

It took someone almost a whole hour to notice it and comment.

Maybe it was that others had noticed it but chose not to comment, chose instead to mutter behind their hands and spread (accurate) rumours about the mud man and whoever he was more than likely sleeping with (well, she had to be the obvious choice. They were practically inseparable.), but it took a surprisingly long time for someone to man up and mention, casually, to Artemis that he had something, dark and red, smudged on the underside of his jaw.

(It maybe had something to do with the fact that he was the youngest guest in the room and yet was taller than them all. Tall enough, in fact, to use them as elbow rests if he so desired and the possibilities of said height advantage weren't lost on the People.)

He blinked, his face a smooth mask of stoicism, with one hand in his pocket and the other nursing the Champaign glass in his hand.

"I beg pardon?" he asked steadily.

Holly despite herself was curious as to what others were seeing that she wasn't. She leaned forward, glancing up at him, searching his face and neck for— Oh. Oh. Not good. Surely enough, the dark red lipstick she wore wasn't a definite shape on his jaw, but stood out against his pale skin in a distorted, smudged array of colours.

"Right there—" the Vice Chancellor of Haven touched a spot on his own neck and motioned to Artemis, "—you have something, red or burgundy- only women know these colours different- right there."

Dietrich VanHeim, one of the more insurable, bigoted members of the Council of the Lower Elements leaned forward into Artemis' person space, squinting small, gnomish eyes at the mark.

"Looks like smudged lipstick." He murmured. "Could be. Frond only knows how many women you've hugged, kissed and greeted tonight."

Artemis' hand ascended form his pocket to touch the smudged colour, before he drew his hand away, rubbing his fingertips together and examined it. Subtly, his eyes slid to Holly then back to their guests.

Holly pursed her lips, cleaning off the remaining lipstick colour on her lips before she smiled her polite, diplomatic I'm-trying-to-escape-you're-unwanted-presence smile.

"Well it was nice seeing you both, but Artemis must be going shortly. Pressing matters above surface." Holly lied fluidly.

Both aged men nodded as if confirming that yes, the glowing thing in the sky is the sun, and waved them off dismissively.

"Well be on your way." VanHeim insisted and turned away.

Holly didn't wait, wasted no time in reaching into his pocket for his handkerchief and rubbing viciously at the lipstick marks.

Foally strolled by, all teeth, the knowing look on his face irritating Holly as he grinned.

"Smooth." He drawled, "Really inconspicuous."

"I hope you choke on a carrot stick." Holly said sweetly. Artemis winced and grabbed her wrist before she tried to remove another layer of his epidermis.

The centaur had the decency to look scandalized.

"That's not nice." He said "I wasn't the one in the store room," he taunted, "Thank the lord none of my children decided to stroll by and suddenly become inquisitive. Oh and, point of information, this is a political building. Every room has cameras…even the bathrooms."

.:Owari:.

It has been raining none stop since last Wednesday and I can't take it any more. I have my last exams on Friday and seeing as I had no intention of studying, I decided to waste time and write this pointless short story. I know I promised Ru-Doragon (and about 60 other people) that I'd patch up on my grammar or steal myself a beta but I (surprisingly in all this rain and no place to go while the country floods out) had no time. Don't hurt me…just review and tell me if you hate it, love it or want me to burn it. Maybe all of the above.

It's the rain getting to me, I tell you.

Feed the starved, rain drenched writer with reviews of sunshine and wind.