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She was sure that she had already ******** something up when he moved to stop her. Swallowing hard she stopped the second he touched her hand, freezing in place. MJ let him guide her hand to connect the correct wires to, you know, avoid electrocuting people!!? He was being awfully casual over something that sounded like a pretty big deal. Her cheeks flushed and now she wasn’t sure if that was the alcohol or something else causing it.

Looking up at him through bangs and long lashes, she slowly pulled her hands back from the amp but stayed right next to him. “What’s next? Is it fixed now? I can’t believe you know how to put this s**t back together,” she breathed out quickly.

Fiddling with her drum kit was one thing, putting equipment back together was in a completely different league. Plus, she was feeling pretty tipsy and still a little high and that just made her even more impressed with his skills.

Something smells good, she thought to herself, not realizing at first that it was 13 as he reached past her then handed her the screwdriver. She paused for the briefest of moments before she shook off the weird feeling and took the tool from him. “Ha you’d be surprised. I’m sure I could still find a way to get someone electrocuted with this,” MJ grinned at him and poked him with the screwdriver before getting to work at closing the amp up. This part she could do.

Shrugging her shoulders while she worked, she glanced up at him for a second, “I mean until now we’ve never really gotten into the nitty gritty of what you do. I just knew you did it, does that make sense?” She scratched at the back of her head and her right leg started shaking as if she was using a kick pedal- something she did when she was nervous.

Finishing up with the amp, she turned in her stool to face him, her blush deepening and spreading from her cheeks down her neck - she didn’t realize he was watching her. He asked a valid question. What was she doing?

“I mean it was you or I drink alone,” she teased and grabbed the bottle to take a long drink to hide her nerves. “Then it turned out your company isn’t the worst thing in the world. I figured if I wanted to keep enjoying your company I should tag along while you work, and I’m not gonna be a d**k and just watch you,” she laughed.

She couldn’t help but laugh at him teasing her, as this was a side of 13 she was sure she hadn’t seen before. Leaning in to meet him closely as he leaned in, her eyebrows furrowed and one raised as he put a hand to her forehead. MJ looked cross-eyed at his hand then met his gaze before she slowly let out the breath she didn’t realize she was holding.

Feigning annoyance, she swiped his hand away from her head. “Don’t you worry, 13, I wouldn’t dare compliment you any more than I already have. Plus no one needs to scan this brain, trust me.” She was still blushing, but she could easily blame the alcohol for that.

“Are you sure you’re feeling alright? You haven’t kicked me out or called me annoying yet,” she stuck her pierced tongue out at him and flashed him a toothy grin. “Either you’re sick or you just so happen to enjoy my company too,” she remained leaning in, testing his boundaries as she tended to do.

“You think so?,” she asked in regards to his challenge. “I dunno, I’m pretty sure I’ve hit my compliment quota,” she quipped back.

“No fever, eh? So you must be enjoying my company.” MJ tapped her chin as if she was deep in thought, elbows on her knees. “Or maybe you’ve been electrocuted one too many times,” she mocked, knowing full well that he was so good at his job he was probably never electrocuted.

When he leaned in closer, MJ was sure that she could feel her heart beating in her throat. Purple and blue eyes stared into the sunglasses that reflected her own face back at her. She was unsure of what he was thinking and it drove her crazy. It made her feel vulnerable and that was one of her least favourite things. But still, she wouldn’t back down. She wriggled in her seat slightly, and chewed her lip ring, her leg still shaking to a beat only she heard.

Deciding that she didn’t want him to have the upper hand, she reached up to his face and raised his sunglasses so they were on top of his head like a headband in his hair. MJ wasn’t sure she even knew what colour his eyes were.

Wait, why did that matter? Her head was swimming like the whiskey that was in her stomach.

Mocking him was a defense mechanism. With her inhibitions lowered her brain was desperately trying to protect her from – from what exactly? She wasn’t sure. From herself, perhaps.

She also wasn’t sure why she was nervous. She had literally been around 13 for longer than she could remember, what reason did she have to be nervous around him?

MJ blinked and tilted her head to the side slightly. “They’re nice,” she blurted out before her brain could stop her.

Oops. There goes another compliment, damnit.

Wrinkling her nose, she made an effort to look disgusted as if she didn’t mean the compliment at all. But she wasn’t a very good actress and she couldn’t keep a straight face, especially not after having as much Whiskey as she did. “No more,” she laughed. “You don’t suck and you have nice eyes, but that’s it.”

It felt like she had been electrocuted when he placed his hands on her knees and she almost jumped out of her seat. Pulled closer to him with her chin now clasped in his hand, she swallowed hard. The jolt of electricity went straight to her stomach and it writhed with nervousness.

Her eyes stared up into his green ones, suddenly regretting removing his sunglasses as she refused to break eye contact. She considered denying that she was nervous but they both knew he knew her better than that. Instead, she chose to be completely honest, “I don’t know,” she replied with her raspy voice barely above a whisper.

Hey it was true. She had no idea why she was so flustered around him tonight. It must be the booze.

MJ sucked in a breath as he ran a finger along her bottom lip.

For a split second her gaze slipped from his eyes to his lips and back again. This was a moment. Like, if there was for some reason a picture of the word moment in the dictionary, it would be of this exact snapshot in time. This could go either way and MJ of a few hours ago would have wanted a different outcome than the MJ of right now. …Or would they have wanted the same thing?

Had this been lurking beneath the surface all along?

She didn’t have time to think much more about what-ifs, when he closed the distance between the two of them, pressing his lips to hers. MJ may have stolen glances at the roadie over the years, but never would she have expected this. She was pleasantly surprised that she wanted him to kiss her – and even more so that she enjoyed it. The instant they collided, MJ melted into him, kissing him back. He tasted like whiskey and cigarettes and he was as delicious as she thought he would be.

Her skin felt like it was lit on fire in the most delightful of ways everywhere his hand touched as it ran up her arm and neck to rest on her face.

She practically nuzzled into the hand on her cheek as she kissed him, enjoying every millisecond that passed, as if time had somehow slowed down for them. Her arms moved around him, snaking around his neck and her fingers tangling in his hair. Their kiss deepened and MJ groaned against his lips.

With a need for oxygen, she broke the kiss and pulled back only enough so that their lips were just barely not touching, but their foreheads were pressed against each other.

“Wow,” she said breathlessly, still wrapped up in him, her head spinning. She thought maybe that it wasn’t just the booze anymore. “You’re a good kisser,” she added before kissing him a second time.

Compliment number three. ******** class="quote">