I Aim for Misunderstanding {Tulio}

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Chel lay back on the bed, letting out a hefty sigh. The beds here were actually quite nice: fluffy, thick, with sheets that made you want to curl up and sleep for a few dozen years or so. Again, Chel couldn't help but feel like they were vaguely familiar, but right about now, she was more interested in stretching out and feeling them against her skin. Well, that and reveling in where precisely she was.

It was a little difficult to figure out which room exactly was Tulio's. Difficult, because Chel couldn't remember ever having actually been there; little because it turned out that people, especially boy people, were so helpful when you asked them nicely. Please, I just want to find my boyfriend's room and give him a big surprise when he gets back. Again, that was at least half accurate. Chel wasn't sure what exactly she and Tulio were, and wasn't about the push the issue. She was more concerned with pushing the whole "Hey, I'm here, let's go have fun" bit of their partnership.

Not that some snogging with a hot Spaniard would be considered a bad thing.

Yawning, Chel stretched again, even arching her back slightly. She thought she heard something, and lifted her head. Nope, just someone heading in next door. Groaning with frustration, Chel let her head fall back on the pillow, grabbing the nearest one and covering her face with it. Actually, this proved to be far, far too comfortable, and Chel was seriously debating falling asleep like that.

Another noise, and Chel was just shifting the pillow this time, peeking around it, trying to see if she'd actually managed to ambush her old partner or not.

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Turning the key in the lock, Tulio entered the dorm room, tossed his satchel of books aside and heaved a huge sigh. Why did he even bother to keep up the pretense of school? It wasn’t like he was actually here to learn anything, and he’d already failed a grade once, so what was the point? Oh, right, because a ‘prince’ wouldn’t just hang about this place if he wasn’t here to learn. Right. Great.

“Miguel?” he called, closing and locking the door behind him. In his other hand he held a bag of food that he gave a shake like a pet owner would a bag of treats, but Miguel didn’t come running. Flipping on the light, Tulio looked around before his eyes fell on his own bed and narrowed. There was a very human looking shape in his bed curled up in the sheets and pillows that had not been there when he’d left this morning.

“Are you drunk? It’s not even five o’clock yet!” he said, exasperated. Setting the food down on Miguel’s bed, he grabbed the covers of his own and started tugging. “You’re passed out in the wrong bed, now get up or you’re not getting any food.”

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"Do these look like they belong to Miguel?" asked Chel, pointing at the portion of the anatomy that she had and Miguel didn't. Of course, she hadn't quite removed the pillow by this point, so a lot of it was muffled. She quickly pulled it off, sitting up in the same motion. Her tousled black hair fell over her grinning face, eyes already sparking with mischief.

"Hey there, sweetie, miss me?" she asked, finishing by blowing a kiss. She hopped up to her feet, straightening her clothes. The tight clothes stretched against her body, almost tight enough to form a second skin. For not the first time, Chel wished that she was somewhere a lot warmer; wearing this much clothing felt confining, even if Chel could manage what she had managed.

The girl bounded a few steps over to Tulio, coming to a stop right in front of him. She reached out a hand and tapped the food bag, then the lips that she'd had some experience kissing before. The smile widened slightly, growing more coy.

"I don't know where Miguel went..." her eyes brightened even more, sliding over to the bed in a manner that probably couldn't be mistaken.

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The voice that replied was decidedly not Miguel, and the chest she pointed at was definitely not Miguel’s and... and... Tulio jumped back with a squeak when the pillow was suddenly cast aside and the figure in his bed was revealed to be probably the last person he had expected to see here, possibly even ever again.

“No, no! No,” was the only reply he could come up with, and even he wasn’t sure what he was saying no to at this point. Maybe this was a dream; he’d certainly had dreams like this before she had been wearing even less clothing and he had been a lot more suave. And now that he was thinking about her clothing he was looking at it and, oh boy did it leave nothing to the imagination!

Stumbling backwards when Chel approached, Tulio could only go so far before the back of his legs struck Miguel’s bed behind him and then she was on him. Well, not on him on him, but she was very close, and there was touching. “You... you’re not here! Well, you weren’t here! But now... why are you here?”

Good, questions. Questions were good.

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Chel arched a brow as a chorus of "No's" tumbled from Tulio's lips. She had to admit, that wasn't exactly the reaction she was expecting. Her arms crossed under her breast, and the smile continued to curl her lips as Tulio reacted like a gangly teenager who'd just had a sex goddess dropped into his bedroom (Chel liked to think this might be a similar situation, really).

"Wow," Chel managed, she glanced down at her chest, using her hands to pat them slightly, "I guess these things are more powerful than I expected. I mean, it's not like you haven't---well, we probably shouldn't talk about that here," she finished, looking up at him and grinning devilishly. He hadn't been expecting her, which struck her as slightly strange. If both he and Miguel were here, why wouldn't they be expecting the last member of their partnership to show up?

"Ohhoho, I am definitely here," she said, raising her hands and stretching. She was nearly pressed against him now, the bed supporting the two of them. She let her fingers crawl up his chest, which seemed slightly different than she remembered. "I'm here because I followed you. I mean, we're partners, riiiiight? You know, had to follow you here and all. You and Miguel; mostly you; forget Miguel."

A pause and Chel looked up at Tulio, smiled and then averted her eyes slightly. That was a little more than she'd anticipated saying, but hey, it was totally to throw off Tulio and not at all an expression of her suppressed feelings. This was just business, right?

"So what's the scam? What are we running on these saps? Have you seen how many princes they have here? We could be rich as kings in like a week."

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Oh great, she just had to take any and every opportunity to show off her... assets, didn’t she? And of course Tulio couldn’t help but oblige, his eyes drawn down to her chest before he forced them back up to her face. “I haven’t!” he protested. It wasn’t like he’d ever really had the opportunity, what with the pact with Miguel, and then her thing with Old Man What’s His Nuts, and then her just running off and leaving and...

That! Yes, stick with that!

Trying to back away more, Tulio only managed to fall back onto Miguel’s bed, just narrowly missing squishing the bag of food beneath him. She was doing it again, messing with his head, saying things like she had followed him here, just him, and it just... no no, he couldn’t do this again. All she had ever done was play with his head and his heart and anything else she could get her hands on and he was finally moving past that and getting over her and here she was, just waltzing back in again and right back up to her old tricks.

“You most certainly did not!” He held his hands up above him as if to prevent her from trying to crawl all over him. “Okay, fine, you followed us here, but then you left. You wanted adventures alone without m-... without us so you just left! So there are no scams and no saps because you walked out and just... no!”

He could almost pride himself on the lack of flailing while delivering that little speech, but it was really only because he didn’t want to drop his guard from warding her off.

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The whole sudden attack was totally unexpected; at least, Chel hadn't expected him to attack like that. She snatched back her hands as though Tulio had suddenly gone up and flamed, and stared up at him, her eyes wide. She what? Came and left? Chel felt her head swirl for a moment, as though trying to remember something that she simply couldn't. She just knew that she hadn't done this.

"Honey, I just got here," she said, pointing down at the ground. "First I was back there," she rolled her fingers toward the exit of the room, "then I found out about this place and that the two of you had headed here, without me," she rolled her shoulders, trying to pretend that didn't bother her in the slightest, "and now I'm here," she finished by pointing at the ground, then crossed her arms over her chest. However, this time, she wasn't doing it to show off her assets. Instead, her eyes were narrowing in a decidedly dangerous manner.

"You two idiots left me behind!" she repeated. There would be no flailing; Tulio flailed; Chel stayed perfectly still. That was how it worked. Stupid urge to flail. "I thought you'd be happy to see me," she insisted. Her lip stuck out in an impressive pout, and she let out a huff, before plopping down on the edge of the other bed. She purposefully looked away, in part to try and gather herself, in part to make him start worrying. Tulio was usually pretty easy to play; heck, their relationship had started because she'd technically been playing him.

The playtime had been nice then...

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Tulio would have been relieved that Chel had dropped her usual seductress act if he hadn’t been so surprised at her reply. She was really going to stand there and claim that they had been the ones to leave her?

“Ha!” was Tulio’s brilliant reply to this. Watching her seat herself all pouty on his bed, gratefully putting some distance between them, he slowly and warily pushed himself back up to sit properly across from her. “Don’t even try to pull that on me,” he pointed a finger at her accusingly. “I’ve been here for... Gods, I don’t even know how long now, and so were you. Made quite a name for yourself too.”

Unfortunately none of them had been very good names, but that was just more ammunition for Tulio to use.

“Not that you don’t already know that.” Now it was his turn to cross his arms over his chest (though a somewhat less impressive one) and look huffy. “What happened, Chel, did you get bored? Come back to mess with my head again? Well you can just forget it! It’s finally back on straight again!”

Such a lie. Well, at least she hadn’t claimed there had been some strangely vanishing note.

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Don't try to...? Then something about how she'd been there before and made a name for herself. Chel couldn't help but feel like that would be relatively accurate, but she also couldn't recall the slightest bit of it. She'd been away for ages, while they'd been here for... just how long were they here? Chel frowned, then shook her head.

"I just got here!" she finally said, standing up and stamping her foot. She crossed her arms and glared intensely. "Get bored? Of course I've been bored without you and Miguel! You two were the best thing to ever-- puh," Chel waved her hands, and then stomped up to Tulio, nearly pressing tight against him. Quite close, their bodies with barely any space between them.

Without any more warning, she grabbed his neck, yanked him down, and kissed him, kissed him hard, enough to seize breath for a few moments. She pulled away then, smiling coyly and tugging at his shirt, patting him a few times. "I'm sorry, you were saying something about not having your head on straight? I think you should probably repeat it; I probably didn't catch it."

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When Chel stood up, Tulio instantly got to his feet as well. If nothing else it gave him the height advantage, not that he was ever good at appearing apposing or anything, but if she was going to start throwing a tantrum then he should be ready for anything.

It was a good thought in theory, but in practice? Well, anything he might have been ready for was not what followed. First she had to go and throw him off guard with her words, calling him (well, him and Miguel, but whatever) what was sounding like ‘the best thing to ever happen to her’ but she didn’t finish the words, instead cutting off to leave him hanging in suspense. But did she give him time to push her to finish what she was saying? Nope, not a chance. Before he could blink she was pressed against him again, but that was normal with her, that wasn’t something he didn’t expect.

The kiss was what he had not expected.

Chel had always been a tease, flirting around with the possibility of kissing him, of maybe having some feelings for him beyond just being partners, but then she’d dance away and laugh and congratulate herself on the effect she had on him. This was... not that. Tulio’s eyes opened almost impossibly wide and he flailed his arms at his sides but she had a good grip on him and there was not escaping. Not that he was thinking about escaping, or even thinking at all; in fact he had just closed his eyes and was giving in to the kiss when she pulled away just as quickly as she had initiated it. For a moment he just stood there, eyes still closed and lips still slightly puckered, until Chel spoke again. Oh, right, there was the teasing and smug self satisfaction.

“See? That is exactly what I mean!” Tulio complained when he’d found his voice again. “You always do that! Well, not that but... don’t you ever get tired of screwing with me?” Back in a huff once more, he tried to free the front of his shirt from her grip.

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Somehow, Chel just knew that she'd made Tulio's toes curl, his brain stop working, and generally a plethora of other impressive things, all with a single kiss. It probably didn't hurt that her own heart had thudded quite loudly for a few seconds there. The reminder of those times in El Dorado; hidden kisses under the eyes of a chief who already knew, sneaked in nights while smiling at a playfully naive blonde man, and secret sessions behind the back of an uptight priest. As far as Chel had been concerned, being with Tulio was the equivalent of being free, and she tasted it for a moment there when their lips meant.

But she'd pulled back and started teasing, as she always did. It was easy, the usual, what she did. He knew it though, and was already sputtering, pulling at her, desperate for space. Chel released her hands, but didn't step back. An eyebrow quirked instead, a small smirk tugging at too red lips.

"I'm pretty sure we haven't actually done any screwing yet; unless that's something else I've forgotten," she said. Her eyebrows raised for a moment, and she opened her mouth, considering teasing again. Instead she closed her lips, thinking. Something was going on here. Maybe magic? Ugh, this was supposed to be the easy, fun part. Chel was supposed to jump into Tulio's arms; they'd sweet talk Miguel into something, and the trio would be off into the sunset. Strangely, Chel had even figured on including Miguel in there; he just seemed to belong. Okay, maybe not belong in the bedroom (though Chel wasn't completely sure what she'd do if something like that happened), but definitely in the adventuring group.

Now, though, now she felt like she was paying for a sin that she didn't commit.

"Come on now, Tulio. We're in a brand new place with brand new people around. Don't you wanna have a little fun?"

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Finally freeing himself from her grip, Tulio made a show of smoothing down his shirt, but it was more a distraction to give him something, anything, to focus on other than her. Even after all this time she was still able to make his heart race, but the worst part was that she knew it. She knew the effect she had on him and used it at every turn. Maybe that was why they had never gotten past this stage: she enjoyed the game too much and Tulio hated to be played.

“What?!” he suddenly sputtered at her response. “No! No, no, there was no screwing!” Realising how flustered he was sounding, he tried to put on an air of nonchalance, raising his chin slightly and giving a distinguished sniff. “That you would have remembered.” And so would I.

There was something nagging at him, though, with all this talk about forgetting and remembering, but she always stood so close and made it so hard to think! “This is not a new place! I’ve been here for a year, no, longer. Ever since...”

With that he trailed off as the pieces finally fell into place. A pensive expression settling on his face, he quickly brought his hand up between them and placed a finger to Chel’s lips to shush any reply she might have had. Holding it there only a moment, he then sidestepped her and took a few steps away, mulling everything over in his head.

He didn’t know how long he had been here because he had been here much longer than he remembered. Why? Amnesia! One night he had gone to sleep under a tree on their way to Avalon and the next morning he had woken up in a strange bed only to discover that he was already in Avalon and had been there for quite some time. He had done things he didn’t remember, met people he didn’t know, made Miguel mad at him for something he hadn’t done...

“How long ago did we leave you?” he asked slowly, keeping his back to Chel. Could it be that... maybe this wasn’t entirely a game?

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"Well, if we weren't any good..." guessed Chel, trailing off. She was more than willing to try doing a little more of the kissing, or, as she'd so tactfully put it, just put everything behind them and move on. Yet Tulio anticipated this, stopping her attack with a finger to those plump lips. Chel narrowed her eyes, then crossed her arms. A huff and she let him think, recognizing the signs of Tulio working through something. He really was quite clever, when he bothered to slow down and think things through. Not nearly as clever as Chel, but you could hardly blame him for that.

"Are you going to start banging your head? I'll hit it for you if you---what?" Chel paused as Tulio's words pierced through her comments. She stared for a few seconds, then rolled her eyes upward. "How should I know? Long enough. A few months, something like that. We all left on Altivo, heading for more adventure, and then Miguel said something about finding a place to head. You were all excited, and then you---you weren't there and--" Chel scrunched up her face. Things got fuzzy around there. She remembered being alone for a while, not long, not nearly as long as Tulio seemed to be claiming and stuff. But there was this fuzzy haze, like she should be remembering something that she wasn't.

"Anyway, I found out you two were here. I headed here. We're all here," she pointed at the floor, "so why are we still talking about this? I mean, this isn't Spain, but it seems just as good to me."

She shrugged and looked around, actually thinking that this was probably better than Spain. Where did they get the money though? The gold had been left behind; even Chel hadn't managed to smuggle more than a pair of earrings that had been purely coincidental. Also given to her by Tulio, so, yeah, they were tucked away. She looked back to Tulio, and waited for the answer she wanted.

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Not any good? Tulio snorted at the thought but said nothing. Oh, he was quite certain that if they ever actually got up to anything serious it would be very good. Very good indeed. For both of them. Of course he wasn’t going to throw that out there because it was the kind of thing Chel would just run with, or take it as a challenge or a promise or something that would make this whole situation even more uncomfortable. Nope, one little snort was comment enough.

Luckily when it came to thinking, Chel knew him well enough to know when he was working something out in his own head and when to just let him at it. Alright, so she didn’t give him complete silence, but she did give him space which was entirely necessary. It was near impossible to think with her standing so close.

A few months, eh? Tulio rubbed his goatee with one finger as he considered this. Not just the timeframe, but just how vague her story got. Yes, it made perfect sense... well, as much sense as another of their trio getting struck with amnesia and forgetting a good chunk of time, but it made perfect sense to Tulio since he had already experienced this himself.

It was very interesting. If she was telling the truth then she remembered nothing of her time here. She didn’t remember the disgusting PDA with Old Man Oh So Smooth, or running to Tulio when she refused his proposal. She didn’t remember practically pushing him to the point of crazy in that cave, or the fact that he and Miguel had already accepted her as their partner again. She remembered none of it; it was a clean slate.

And he had no idea what to do with that revelation. The only thing he did know was that he had to get to Miguel before she did. If Miguel started in on how he had gone searching for her and how he thought that Tulio loved her then this was all just going to get really messy again, and the dark-haired Spaniard was tired of messy. Things were messy enough with the gorgeous Goddess that he was afraid of yet couldn’t quite seem to get out of his head, and the fact that he and Miguel really had no current plan or direction, and the very fact that Chel was back here (who he had never been able to get out of his head) and... okay, so things were still really messy, period.

“How right you are!” he suddenly exclaimed, finally turning back to face her. Right, just set her at ease then find Miguel. Simple enough plan... right? “And there are more princes and noblemen here than know what to do with their gold. They could all use our help, I’m sure.”

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More thinking; a lot of thinking. Chel continued to be as impatiently patient as she could manage. This was classic Tulio, which at least let her know that some things hadn't changed. Again, she was half tempted to walk up to him and start hitting him on the head till words came out, but just as she was about to follow through with that desire, he spoke. In fact, he seemed quite enthusiastic all of a sudden. One moment, it was all "give me my space, so I can think shallow thoughts," the next, he was inviting her into some kind of scheme. Chel slit her eyes yet again, directing that narrow gaze upon Tulio, obviously considering.

She ended up smiling though, "Right," she said, nodding and clapping her hands together, wiggling fingers before pointing them at Tulio, "so we work over some of these prince types and part them with their gold. Sounds good. What do you and Miguel have set up? You want me to meet up with him and get things settled? I haven't found him yet, but I could just," she waved toward a bed, "wait for him or something. He missed me too, right?"

Chel looked at Tulio now, smirking and quirking an eyebrow slightly. She was fairly certain that Miguel found her nearly as attractive as Tulio did. She just had a more sisterly affection for her partner in crime though, and she was pretty sure it was mutual. So running into Miguel would be fun, and likely more fun than Tulio, if he was going to act like this...