Reunion

It was the second glass that did it. Maybe the third, Mimi wasn't sure but she was aware that Jim and his new girlfriend Caroline had left early because they were worried about the babysitter and Sven was looking particularly pretty. She knew that for the first time in months the night was theirs, like old times and everything seemed vibrant and new again like it would last forever and they would never have to turn back to the hard concrete of their banal, real lives. Amid that, there was a feint twinge of regret in her chest because she knew they would. People and things always did; have fun, watch it fade, get bored and angry with one another, then spend years earning money for things they didn't need to keep up with neighbours they didn't like. Even her. The week she'd spent away from home for work had etched itself into her chest with unpleasant results.

"You going to finish this with me, then?" Mimi gestured towards the half empty wine bottle, topped up Sven's glass.

"Might as well." He leant back in his chair. "Caroline seems nice."

"Nice?" Mimi gave him a sideways look, slid into the seat next to him that Jim had vacated. "She was nice to Jim, that's for sure. Did you see her? All over him."

Sven nodded. "Maybe a little much in public. I like your hair like this." He pulled a strand loose from the knot that sat behind Mimi's right ear, artfully deconstructed.

"Thank you." Mimi said, rested her head on his shoulder. "Phew. I needed this. I feel I've spent the past ten days doing nothing but sitting on trains."

"Because you have, Mimi. I've been eating microwave meals."

"Oh, so you can't cook now?" Mimi asked. "Wifey not at home to feed you?"

"That is not what I meant." He said, looking down at her. "It's depressing making one-man dinners. Horrible when there's no one there to share things with. I kept going to say things like, 'oh, today so and so happened' and you weren't there. I didn't want to keep texting you."

"I know, I was kidding." Mimi sipped her wine. "I ate out all week on expenses. It was delicious."

"Alright for some." Sven gave her a flat, mocking look. "When I went away to university my mom sent me this book called Microwave Meals For One and it was the saddest thing I've ever seen. So sad."

Mimi laughed. "Did you use it while I was in London?"

Sven shook his head. "Nope. I was thinking that maybe we should get a dog. I miss you when you go away."

Mimi smiled, settled her hand into his. "It's not for long. Once every few months, that's all. Anyway," her tone sank lower, her breath was close enough to curl upward against the smooth curve of his ear. "I already have a dog."

Sven chuckled. "Oh. I forgot about that."

"No, you didn't but I'm home now. I'm going to the bathroom then we should probably.-" She turned, breaking off mid sentence, the possibility leaping in her chest like flames. "Do you want to go dancing?"

Sven laughed. "Now? Like going out out."

"Why not?" Mimi said. "It's the weekend and we haven't just had fun in so long. We never do anything spontaneous anymore."

Sven looked out at the city lights, the bright, blurring traffic, an old kind of heat rising in his chest then back to Mimi. "Hey," he said. "If you want to go and drink and dance like a couple of idiots then I'm in."

Mimi clapped, turned on her heel. "Good. I'll be five minutes."

Eventually, they ended up in an expensive nightclub with predictably elaborate drinks.

"Can't I just get a beer? Or whiskey?" Sven shouted above the music, mimed drinking to the bartender and was, in turn, met with a look of genuine confusion as though something so simple was alien in a place that served ten different kinds of Martini. But, soon enough, they pushed through the throbbing crowd and found a table, drinks in hand.

"Are you grumpy now?" Mimi teased, eyeing her fiance's bobbing knee, the thin line of his mouth. "Baby?" she pouted at him, her hand settled against his jaw.

"No." He said, forcing a smile. "I'm fine. What is that?" he pointed to her drink.

Mimi plucked the menu off the centre of the table and read aloud. "Peachtini with rosemary syrup and smoked sea salt rim, apparently. It's delicious. Try some."

She pushed the glass over to him and he sipped. "Pretty herbal, though."

Mimi smiled, saw Sven roll his shoulders, shift in his seat. "Don't worry." She said. "I know you don't want to dance. I won't make you."

"I never said-" he tailed off, stopped talking when Mimi burst into bright laughter.

"I'm sorry." She sighed, "The moment I suggested it back in the restaurant you looked terrified." She squeezed his thigh. "I know you're more of a pub kind of guy, warm beer a few rounds of pool, that kind of thing."

"Well, you know, I'm not the best at dancing. Drinking I can do, but that..."

"And yet," she shouted above the music, leaning in close to him. "you still said yes." She smiled, pecked him on the cheek.

"Of course I did. I know you love it."

Mimi kissed him, longer this time, ignoring the crowds of people completely. "Well, if you won't, then I will."

"Please, go ahead." He nodded towards the dance floor, watched her bound towards the heaving crowd.

Even if Sven wouldn't, Mimi always did – lived for it, in fact. There was little else that helped her simply forget like dancing. Mimi reasoned that people were too busy dancing or drinking or working up the nerve to chat each other up to really give a damn about what she or Sven or anybody else was doing on the dance floor. Comparatively, Sven felt that there was nothing more socially awkward than a group of people jammed together in the dark shaking about like they were suffering from severe epilepsy. Why a man couldn't have a pint in the pub with music played at a civilised level was beyond him. Mimi stayed on the floor for the better part of an hour while Sven nursed her handbag and ordered another whiskey and watched her dance. Though he didn't go in for it himself, he was always struck by just how carefree Mimi looked when she did so. Eventually, she skipped back to their corner table, a grin on her face.

"For someone musical, I find it so weird that you don't dance. No one cares, you shouldn't be embarrassed."

"Hah." He stared at the melting ice in his glass. "I don't think so; it's so embarrassing, you know I hate it. It's not that simple."

"Grumpy." Mimi kissed his face, dug her teeth into his cheek at the last minute.

"Ow." He laughed, rubbed the spot where she had nibbled him, his body tingling like that exact spot on his face and his dick were connected.

"You want to go home?" Mimi asked. "You're sweating like a whore in church."

"Go and have fun. It's fine." He brushed her arm, nodded back to the dance floor. "Go and dance."

"Come on." Mimi smiled, "Everyone knows men hate dancing but sometimes you just have to jump that fence to get the girl."

"Are you bribing me?"

"Trying to." Mimi shouted, disappearing into the crowd.

Sven drained his beer, followed after her.

"Well." Mimi said. She walked a few steps ahead of him on the street, watching him amble after her. "That was a valiant and utterly uncoordinated attempt. Well done."

"Thanks. Get the keys." He gestured towards the jacket that was draped across Mimi's shoulders. "Left pocket."

She pulled his jacket off, handed it back to him, watched as he opened the door.

"That was fun." Mimi called the lift. "Did you have fun?"

"Yep." Sven said. "I think Caroline is coming to work for our agency, you know that?"

"Is that how Jim met her?"

Sven nodded. "That conference thing a few months back, do you remember?"

Mimi laughed, her hand wrapping around him. She pushed him into the lift. "Do I remember? Didn't you meet someone else there, too?"

Sven grinned, coloured slightly. The booze and his colouring never helped at times like this. "I did."

Mimi leant up, kissed him, their bodies pressed together.

"Handsy." He laughed, grabbed her wrist then brought it to his lips, kissed the stripe of bared flesh.

"Not complaining, are we?" she asked, one eyebrow raised. Mimi's fingers toyed with the button on his jeans.

He grabbed her hands again, laced his fingers into hers. "Wait."

"Pft. No one's here."

"You want to fuck in the elevator?" Sven asked. "Anyway," he nodded past her shoulder to the opening doors. "We're two steps away from the front door."

Mimi sighed, pulled the keys out of his hand, fumbled for the lock.

"You okay?" Sven reached out, tried to take the keys off her.

"I'm fine." Mimi said. "Really, look." She smiled up at him. "Not even that drunk."

"Whatever you say."

The door thudded behind them, left Mimi groping in the dark for the light switch.

"Ah, shit." She kicked off her shoes, "There'd better not be a power cut."

"We can stay in the dark." Sven said, reaching for her, pawing at her like she had grabbed him in the lift.

"I think it's the lamp."

Behind her, Sven pulled a face, rolled his eyes." There." He hit the wall switch, looked at her. "The lamp went yesterday. Bulb needs changing."

"Oh."

"You know what else happened yesterday." Sven said, leaning against the dining table.

"What?"

"I found it." He pulled her close, kissed her forehead.

Mimi frowned up at him. "Still no clearer."

"The house I am going to buy for you when I'm rich." He said. "It's so pretty, Mimi. I had to drop some files to Phil yesterday and, damn, that bit of town is nice. It's up in Winters Park - white fronted place with a wide driveway and enough rooms that you could have one entirely for crafting."

"Really?" Mimi sighed.

Sven nodded, wordless, watched her face soften. "And a little space at the side for the vegetable garden you want. Bigger than those window boxes, that's for sure. The river runs right past the house at the bottom of the garden."

"Well," Mimi smiled. "Maybe one day."

"Yep." He threw his jacket over the back of a chair. "For now, we'll just have to stick with this shit-hole."

Mimi shook her head. "It's our shit hole and, hey, that's all that matters. It's not things that matter it's having someone to share them with."

" I know, but you know, I want more for us." He said, "I want more for you."

"Don't talk like that." Mimi patted his chest. "I feel so guilty when you talk like that."

Sven nodded, "I know you do, silly thing. Come here." He pulled her in, kissed her again.

"It's not stupid." She said. "It's perfectly valid. " In the face o his kisses, she tailed off, left that box closed for now. "You're wearing that cologne I bought you. I realised earlier, I meant to say."

"I am." Sven said, stopped mid-sentence. "Did you hear that?" he stepped away from her, stood in the centre of the room, listening.

"It's probably just the building." Mimi said. "It's old, don't worry."

"You see," Sven gave her a long look, "We need to leave this place. I swear it's rats."

"Sven, you grew up on a farm, you should know as well as I do that they're everywhere. Stop worrying and come here. Forget it for now." She led him to the sofa, pushed him down. "How are you feeling?" she asked, her fingers were already working on the buttons on his shirt. "Hm."

"Well now, I'm just perfect." He breathed the words against her neck, pulled her close.

"They're nearly healed." Mimi ran her finger over the burn marks on his chest, that faded out to pale pink ghosts. Mimi pressed them, watched him flinch, smiled as he shifted under her.

"Yes, Ma'am." He answered, kissed her hand again. "It was fun."

"It was." Mimi pushed her hair from her face, her hand settling on his shoulder. "None of that tonight, though."

"No." The word was a statement and once it had left his lips, Sven instantly felt like it wasn't enough, that the shiver of heat he felt for her was rendered impotent in the face of that single, vague response. What he felt was no longer the quickening flare of lust he'd known so well in the past but something heavier, solidifying in his chest, growing into his veins like the love he felt for her was as vital as respiring to his survival, too complex for language. So, he said nothing more, no would have to do in the face of intangible love.

"So what do you want tonight?" he asked. She had pushed him out onto the sofa now, dispensed with his shirt, left it crumpled on the threadbare carpet.

Mimi sat up slowly, perched on the edge of the sofa. "You need to stop thinking about things and targets and lists and stuff." She said. "Why don't I just show you instead, huh?"

Another kiss landed on his mouth, harder this time, shot through with need and, somewhere beneath that, frustration that he was always so on, Mimi thought.

"Sorry." He said.

"Don't apologise. I just worry about you, that's all." Mimi pulled off her dress, shuddered as he touched her. "Don't say anything. Just shut up and kiss me."

"Are you cold?" He broke away from her, rubbed her arm. "Shall I get a blanket?"

"No." Mimi slid off the sofa, stood up, pulled him with her as she went. "Let's go to bed, please." Her fingers returned to their place on the fly of his jeans and soon enough, she pulled them down, underwear and all.

"Fuck, wait." He laughed, his hand flat against her shoulder as he pulled them off. "There."

"T-shirt and socks too." Mimi pulled at the fabric.

"Why am I naked and you're still relatively clothed?"

"Don't ask questions." She swatted his bottom, watched as he left the clothes in the living room. "Bedroom. Go."

"Ow." He reached out, snapped her bra, closed the door behind them.

"Stop it! How old are you? Nine? You'll pay for that."

"I didn't think you wanted it rough tonight." Sven reminded her.

"I don't." Mimi kicked back the sheets, crawled under them. "You can keep up with that, though."

"This?" He smiled in the dark, mouthed at her neck.

"Mmhm." She hooked her leg over his, his erection pressed against her thigh. Mimi wallowed in his warmth, the feel of his body against hers. Nothing else compared to that, to the way she felt about him right down to her bones, the settling feeling of utter conenet when they were together.

"Are you falling asleep?"

Mimi laughed aloud, couldn't help herself. "Hah. You sound particularly worried about that." Her hand was flat against his stomach, moving in soft swoops across his belly. "And, no. I'm not."

"Good."

Mimi breathed, wordless against him. Didn't need to talk, relied on their unspoken signals; the touches, the purrs, the way Sven moved as she kissed him, his hands knotting into her hair.

"This is what you want?" she asked, her fingers curling around his hardness, rubbing him. "I know you're better at this than dancing."

"I always knew it was bullshit." Sven breathed, "that dancing versus sex thing." His hands ran over her thigh, grabbed a languid squeeze of her ass on the way past. Mimi pushed her bottom into his hand, parted her thighs for his intrepid fingers. She pulled her bra off, moved under the sheets as Sven worked her underwear down her thighs.

"What?" he frowned at her, held the underwear aloft. "Mimi you shouldn't wear these hold in underwear things, very bad for the kidneys. They crush your internal organs, apparently." He threw them away, kissed her neck.

"Thanks, Dr. Aachen." Mimi laughed, "I'll be sure to remember that next time I want to look less chubby in a dress."

"I'm serious." He sucked her neck. "Besides, you don't need them."

"Hmm. Okay then." Her voice was husky, still sceptical. "You can move your fingers a little higher." She urged. "Might as well put you to some use."

"Oh." Sven sank his fingers between her thighs. Felt his chest tighten as she moaned beneath him, her warm wetness throbbing around his fingers. His breaths shallowed out as he watched her grind against his probing digits and grip the pillow, her hair a mess behind her, Sven hadn't wanted her so badly in months.

"Oh," Mimi gasped, her eyes flying open, "oh, babe, your cock. Please fuck me."

"Pardon?" Sven grinned. "Not begging, Amanda? Surely not?"

"Fuck you." She grinned at him, her own fingers pushing his away, fingering her hardening clit. "Come here, you snarky bastard."

Her foot met his thighs in the dark, pushing him forward.

"Wait." he lay back, grabbed her.

"What the hell are you doing?" Mimi turned around, her voice tense with need.

"Getting behind you, baby." Sven kissed her shoulder, reached around once more to dip his fingers between her labia.

"Oh." Mimi smiled in the dark, "What a gentleman."

"Of course."

Mimi pulled him toward her, kissed him as he entered her, moved gently against his length. "You can keep on with your fingers if you like." She drawled, pulling his free hand toward her aching clit. "Feels like I've been wet for hours."

"Have you?" he asked, watched her nod.

"Oh, you have no idea. I've been thinking about this all week. I took the purple bullet away with me but nothing-" she mewled in the dark, grinned when he sucked at her neck again. "Nothing beats this."

"Nothing?" Sven asked, moving fasted now, his breath catching. "Fuck, you have such a pretty ass, have I told you that?"

"A few times." Mimi breathed, "I could stand to hear it again, though."

"Well, know it's true." His fingers flitted from her clit, grabbed her bottom.

"As I was saying," Mimi turned, kicked away the duvet. "Nothing beats my favourite toy."

"Please tell me that's me." He sighed, groaned as she climbed onto him in the dark, grabbed the headboard.

Mimi laughed. "Of course it's you, you silly thing." She bent, kissed him gently. "Now be quiet while I fuck you."

Sven said nothing, nodded, his fingers pressing into her thighs, tracing up over her torso to her hardened nipples as she moved, slow at first then harder. Soon, she was moving hard enough that the familiar threat of orgasm was an inescapable ache in his balls. Rougher than he'd intended, Sven pulled her down, moved her so that she lay out, her bottom against his thigh.

"This what you want?" Mimi knew the look in his eyes, teased him with the curve of her ass, the slickened lips beneath.

"I'm so fucking close, please."

Mimi warmed to hear him beg, the desperation in his voice made her tighten. A twinge of anticipation ran through her as he pushed into her again, her thigh pulled higher this time, finishing hard behind her exactly as they had started. Mimi urged him on with sweet words, their fingers knotted together, bodies moving in familiar undulations until she pulled her hand away, worked again at the nub of flesh between her thighs.

"Don't you fucking stop, baby."

"It hurts a little." Sven moaned.

"Keep going, keep going." her breath was ragged now, her fingers replaced with his, Mimi shivered against him, toes curling as she came, filled nothing and everything at once. And then, their breathing in the dark, the delicious weight of his body against hers.

Eventually, Mimi spoke, turned in Sven's grip. "The whole week." She smiled. "Seven whole days and that is all I have wanted. You."

Sven nuzzled her hair, watched her curl against him. "Well, I haven't missed the numb arm I'm going to get, that's for sure."

Mimi bit his chest, laughed in the dark. "Fuck off."

"I missed that, though." He sighed, kissed her again. "And the way you smell, the way you feel. I didn't think it was possible to miss a person like how I've missed you."

"You're so cute." Mimi breathed, kissing him. "I will make you food in the morning." Mimi she added. "No microwaves needed. If you take one for the team and let me cuddle you, numb arm and all."

Sven grinned in the dark. "It's a deal."