A Photograph of You & I

"Wow." Ville said as he hit the power button the DVD player remote. "That was a complete waste of two hours of my life."

I began blinking very slowly. "Why didn't we stop watching it after the first twenty minutes?"

"Probably because we both gave it the benefit of the doubt that it might have gotten better." He chuckled, switching remotes and grabbing the one for the television.

"Damn us." I mumbled moving my head to rest on Ville's chest as he flipped through the channels. As was usual, the only thing on around this time of year was left over holiday specials that had a tendency to get really annoying.

"What is there to do around this house when Bam is out?" Ville asked, finally deciding that nothing interesting was on. I sighed as I looked up into his bright emerald eyes. They stared back at me with adoration and I had to look away.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Wonderful." Ville replied sarcastically as he propped himself up on his elbows slightly. He glanced around the room, looking for something to occupy us. Obviously he found nothing suitable and he laid himself back down, rubbing my back with his large hands.

"Ville?"

"Yes Darling?"

I paused. I hadn't really had anything to say. I'd just wanted to hear the sound of his voice again. For some reason, I still couldn't grasp the fact that he was here with me. That everything between us had, for the moment, been resolved.

"Never mind." I answered lamely, closing my eyes and enjoying the back rub he was giving me. He chuckled lightly to himself and sat up, disrupting my comfort.

"Let's go outside." He suggested. I raised an eyebrow and looked at him. He smiled at me, revealing the small gap between his front teeth. I giggled and threw the covers off my cold body and jumped off the bed and walking to the dresser.

"What are you doing?" He asked, coming over to hover next to me as I sifted through his clothing, hunting for a particular item.

When I spotted it I grinned and pulled it out of the drawer, careful not to disturb anything else. "I wanted this," I announced, holding up the CKY sweatshirt that I'd spotted him wearing once before.

"What do you need that for, Darling?"

"Um, Ville. In case you haven't noticed...it's January. There is snow on the ground. It's cold." I pronounced my words carefully and slowly just to poke a little fun at him.

He glared at me, still smiling. "Well then, since that's the only sweatshirt I brought..." He snatched it from my hands and shrugged his shoulders into it. It was rather big for him; I had my suspicions that it wasn't really his.

"Well now, what am I supposed to do?" I asked, faking a pout.

He moved closer to me and stepped behind me, keeping me facing forward. I looked down as his arms encircled my waist. I felt his nose press into my hair, inhaling, as he brought the sweatshirt around me to zip me up inside as well.

"There." He said with satisfaction. "Now we'll be twice as warm."

"Yeah, now tell me...how are we supposed to move?" I struggled to turn myself around to face him, the sweatshirt stretching with my movements pulled him closer to me.

He looked down at me contemplatively as I gazed into his eyes. "Stand on my feet." He said.

I did as he told me and he wrapped his arms around my back to keep me balanced. I laughed at how ridiculous we must've looked. One step at a time, Ville walked us out of the bedroom.

"This is never going to work." I told him, grabbing hold of his T-shirt and holding on. I knew we were approaching the stairs and it was only a matter of time before we went crashing down them to our inevitable deaths.

"Will you just trust me?" He asked, I sensed him staring down at me but I had my eyes squeezed shut. His arms unwrapped themselves from around me and he placed them on either railing, using them as balances as he hopped down one stair.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck..." I muttered quickly. He laughed at me as he continued hopping down the stairs, one after another.

Every time he landed on another step I braced myself for the fall that seemed imminent. I clutched his shirt a little tighter.

"Ouch." He grunted almost immediately after I'd tightened my grip. I looked up at him and he was wincing. "You've got a little of my skin, Darling."

I gave him an apologetic look and loosened my grip a little as he continued hopping down the remainder of the stairs. When we landed on the floor I released his shirt completely.

"You know, it might have been easier to get outside first then get into the sweatshirt..." I commented as he began walking us toward the front door.

"Ah, but that would have been less time that you were clinging to me for dear life, and I can't miss out on that now, can I?" He chuckled.

I rolled my eyes and smiled into his chest as I inhaled.

This was going too far.

I was getting in too deep.

Twenty minutes later

"I'M GOING TO GET YOU VILLE!" I screamed as I wiped off the remains of the slush ball he'd chucked at my shirt. The sweatshirt that had caused so much trouble earlier lay discarded in a snow bank.

I heard his hysterical laughter retreating as I bent down to make a few snowballs of my own to hurl at him. When I did so, another slush ball hit me square in the behind.

Dropping my ammunition I turned horrified to face my attacker. Bam stood with a grin surrounded by Raab, Ryan, Dico, and Novak. Their impish grins infuriated me and I ran as fast as I could through the snow.

Too late, Bam realized what I was doing and before he could dodge me, I had tackled him into a slush puddle. His eyes widened as the moisture penetrated his sweatshirt and he began screaming about the cold. I quickly got off of him and started sprinting away to avoid something catastrophic.

"AINA!" Bam screamed as I hurtled toward the woods. He would be following me soon.

Then out of nowhere, I was tackled to the ground, landing in a pile of fresh, untouched snow. I looked up, confused and saw Ville grinning wickedly at me.

"I guess I'm going to get you," He said so sensually I found myself completely unaware of the coldness that was encasing me.

He nuzzled my neck and left a trail of soft kisses up to my jaw line. I shivered, but it wasn't because I was cold.

"V-Ville..." I stammered, barely able to speak.

"Yes?" He answered, continuing back down along my neck to leave a few soft kisses on my collarbone before looking at me.

I stared completely helpless into his eyes, unable to decide whether or not I wanted him to continue tormenting me like this.

It wasn't fair to either of us to let things continue on the way they were.

My selfishness won.

I leaned up and kissed his lips softly before wriggling out of his grasp and getting up. He rolled himself over on his back and stared up at me, seeming dazed himself.

Without another word, I glanced up to see that Bam and everyone else were now staring at the exchange between Ville and I. I bent down to get a snowball and chucked it as hard and far as I could. It hit Ryan right in the middle of his forehead.

Everything that had gone on between Ville and I was forgotten for the moment as I began running again toward the woods, with Bam and the Crew sprinting behind me.

I declared it official, at least to myself.

I was in way too deep.