Gjorde det ont... [PRS]

Merc admits his slight delight in stepping away from her. His head cleared out and his motive was suddenly clear. He just had to keep it that way. Merc wasn't out looking for love, love was annoying, it clouded your views and hounded you into illogical actions. Merc had decided long ago that love wasn't for him so he decided to not care for it. Treat everyone like friends no matter who or what they were and if anyone wanted to be his enemy he welcomed them.

"Yeah, food", he confirms her before rolling the cart out to the balcony. It's warm outside, not too hot... it was nice. He liked Italy but sometimes he liked the cold weather of Scandinavia better. He would've prefered the cold for the moment. As if he could control himself better if he hadn't been in Italy and as if he would've been better at controlling his emotions and actions in a cold climate. He's just bullshitting himself if he actually believes that.

He doesn't, luckily enough.

Merc sits by the table outside, he's not as hungry as he thought he'd be though. So... he pours them some wine.

Naeva sätter sig mittemot honom och ser på medan han häller upp vinet. Hon tar sitt glas och smuttar på det. Blundar. "Det är inget dåligt vin", säger hon sedan leende och lägger tillbaka glaset på bordet. Hennes händer letar sig till hennes hår och hon sätter upp håret i en knut istället så att det inte kladdar sig fast mot hennes hud i värmen.
Hon sträcker sig efter maten, döende hungrig. Hon börjar äta av sin taco först. Hon använder sig av de där stora nachochipsen så hon vet inte om det räknas som en taco eller inte, men hon har blivit fäst vid hur det smakar sedan ett litet barn i Mexiko visade henne det sättet att äta på.
Första tar snabbt slut och när hon sträcker sig efter den andra så kan hon inte förmå sig att fortsätta äta. Allt hon kan göra är att se på Merc medan hon smuttar på sitt vin.
"Vad får jag fråga dig och inte fråga dig?" undrar hon utan ett leende. "Får jag fråga dig varför du inte svarar på mina frågor? Får jag fråga varför du gick med på en ordentlig dejt när jag ändå inte kan hjälpa dig, enligt dig. Du sade att jag inte var den där sortens person... Så, varför är vi här? Du förvirrar mig, Merc McHeaven." Nu ler hon. Hon kan inte låta bli. "Och skulle du kunna vara snäll och åtminstone försöka svara på ett konkret vis på åtminstone en av frågorna?" Och nu retas hon.

"I like you", Merc says with a smile. That was a horrible reply to the last question... and the third? Kind of? "As a habit I usually don't reply to questions, far too much thinking involved", Merc says and takes a sip of the wine before stretching out to grab some fruit. He liked fruit but preferred it directly from the source, the same with vegetables. It just tasted a lot better when it was fresh, especially carrots. Merc quickly checked the cart. Damn it, no carrots.

"Actually, you tell me, why so interested?" Merc leaned back, he wanted to know but at the same time he didn't. A really weird mixture of feelings.

(Okay, let's try this English thingy. Heh...)

Naeva's smile didn't really die out, but it got more real. More genuine and definitely softer.
"Because I like you, Merc. A lot. I like the way you make my heart skip a beat, how my skin feels when you're close. I like to feel the warmth of your skin against mine." She leaned closer in, with her elbows on the table.
"I'm falling for you and I hate it. At the same time I just can't hate you, nor my heart for skipping the beats. So, that's why I'm so interested. I like to hear the thoughts of the people I like. The thing is that you have all the power. Which frustrates me. You know where I live if you would like to come and visit. I have no clue where you are if you're not with me. And you are the one with your thoughts too. So, again, I have no clue what you mean when you say that you 'like' me. Am I a nice person, is that why you like me? Is it attraction, like I thought my feelings for you were at first? I have nothing against waiting for you, Merc. I'm an angel, for goodness's sake. I can wait forever, if that's what's you need. But, is there actually anything to wait for? Are you ever going to tell me, or someone else, your thoughts?"
She sighed and closed her eyes. She was asking for too much again. Why did she keep doing this? Why couldn't she just shut up and enjoy the meal she wanted really badly?

She opened her eyes and shook her head. "I'm asking for too much. I'm sorry. It's just that you know I wouldn't go on a date if I didn't feel something real for you, but I totally forgot to ask you the same question. Then, again, maybe you wouldn't answer."
Maybe not hearing his thoughts was a good thing, after all. Then she wouldn't be able to really fall for him. Was it possible that her heart might stop beating like it did when he was close to her? Maybe she could escape these feelings?
But, why was she so sure that if she ever heard Merc's thoughts she wouldn't mind them. That she might actually like them? Why was she falling for this guy?
"Dammit", she muttered with a little smile and looked at him. "I'm starting to think of you as a guy instead of a demon. That means I'm screwed. That means my god damn heart won't stop doing the thing when you're close. Can't complain though", she said at last and took her wine glass. This wasn't even a sip anymore, she was drinking everything in it. Every single drop.
Merc had the power to hurt her and now she was expecting something like that.

(Okay, maybe not too bad? I dunno. It's the first actual time I writing something in English that isn't just... crap.)

[It looks good, mate. You're too hard on yourself.]

"I'd go on a date without feelings", Merc said and didn't seem to mind the confession. Could be that it was far-fetched in his opinion. Love didn't happen just like that. Love was a clawing beast who pierced your skin and attacked every pore with something equaling to hot oil. Penetrating you skin with an unreckoned force even the archdemons feared with their lives. Love was stronger than any scythe but the way it was used was a mystery for most.

Those who wielded love like a weapon deserved whatever sad and lonely hole of hell they were welcomed too. Merc had seen it, it wasn't pretty. Muddy, slippery slopes and the constant nagging voices of their sins echoing through their heads for eternity. All of them under Asmodeus command, driven only by lust and not by any emotion. Merc feared ending up like that, ending up like the heartless ones who Asmodeus accepted. Of course, those Asmodeus didn't care for Mammon greedily lapped up like a dog whose gone out of water for days. Disgusting creatures, all of them. The embodiment of everything gone wrong, everything that should have never left the blackened gates of hell.

"I can give you the relief that I'm no demon, not truly anyway", Merc said and poured wine in her glass once again. "Angels use that word too freely, we like to place that name on the ones that have completely left their humanity behind", he continued as he finished his pouring. "But since the hell-beings like me haven't been given a name 'just a guy' is a name that works", he finished and flashed a smile. He was no demon, Linda and Finn was no demons. Of course he could call them that but he knew what a true demon was. Not everyone has had the pure courtesy of meeting one, Merc wasn't even sure he had met one.

Naeva sighed and rested her head in her palms. "That gives me more or less nothing, Merc. Except that I should have asked you before. Then I wouldn't be in this situation."
She wasn't hurt though. Not really. Her heart had skipped a scared beat when he first started talking, but he had answered her question and not the situation's. His answer didn't mean that this, whatever it was, was without feelings.
She gave up and started taking sips from the wine again, and this time reached for another weird taco-thingy. She was going to save the tortilla 'til later.
She was eyeing him while she was eating. "You know what? I'm gonna go with whatever I get. I've already spilled my feelings for you. You can just walk away when you are feeling like I'm giving you too much love. I don't really have anything to lose anymore, so I can see how this turns out."
She shrugged and went for the corn to her taco. "You can choose what to talk about now. I don't think I should be asking more questions. I kinda start to realize it's not gonna work like that."
She had decided to be honest, and now she was. She was just hoping the world wouldn't give her a hell because of that.

"I can cut you a deal instead", Merc said and smiled as he reached for a tortilla. He liked them better. The soft bread tasted much better than the hard shells. It tasted... lighter. Somehow. Soft things are just better. "I'll answer honestly to any question you have" Merc was questioning himself... he was questioning what he was doing. "If you do me a favor"

Merc leaned forward on the table after casually sipping on the wine again. He still wanted to get the scythe into hell, just to see and do checks on it properly. "Or I'll do a favor for you, hell has a lot of resources. Plenty more than angels give it credit for", he continued and gave her the option.

The option being whatever he actually could help with, whatever he actually COULD help her with was probably a long list. Hopefully.

Naeva sat silent and watched him. She had a feeling this wouldn't end well. At all. She bit her lip and sighed. Fuck this. Fuck hell. Fuck heaven. Fuck it all.
"Okay. But only as long as you answer all my questions. Not just five or something. I want you to be honest with me too. And, I'm only doing it if I don't endanger myself or something similar to that. Plus, the only favor I actually need is convincing heaven to give me my wings and my halo and grace back. So, I'm going with the questions... and hopefully a fun night." She had her sexy and flirtatious smile on again. "The first question being, what the heck do you want me to do? If it gets me killed, I'm so not in. Like, I really want my wings back."
She was hoping her questions wouldn't get her heart broken. Seriously though. This whole shit was going to end badly, and she knew it. Then again, she didn't really have much to lose except her own life, and Merc's. She was going to protect her little crush if she could. More like love, but whatever.

"I'm not replying unless you're doing the favor", Merc had his jokester-smile on his lips. He wanted to laugh at the absurd situation, if she didn't agree to do it she wouldn't get her answers. The power remained being his untill she agreed. "You can have the night anyway", he says as he sips some wine. He needs to pour another glass now, that's just too bad. He does it anyway.

Mercs grin didn't die out, it really didn't. It was apparent all along.

Naeva was really thinking now. Okay, so, she was in love? So what? She was also an angel. A guardian angel. She was specially trained to fight things and... things. She didn't actually know why the training was so hard. A human army wouldn't even be a problem for her... when she had her wings. God damn it, she really needed them again. She really wanted them back.
"Okay. Whatever", she muttered while her stomach tightened. Not out of love tough. Was she... scared? No, she hadn't been scared for... centuries, at least. Was she nervous? More like it, yes.
She had a hard time looking at him, so her gaze went to Venice instead. A beautiful city... A city she usually felt connected to, but this night had been weird from the beginning. Wow, she really wished she hadn't kissed him on that rooftop. Everything would have been easier if she hadn't known how fantastic it felt to be with him. Even by just being close to him.
She wasn't even going to take the night if he didn't have any real feelings for her. That's at least what she was telling herself.
"Now tell me, Merc before I do something really stupid. Or smart."