[sub][h3][center]Archie and Natalie[/center][/h3][/sub][hr]

"Yeah," Natalie says, shaking her head in agreement to something that he had said. He couldn't remember what he had said. What were they talking about again? "Yeah, no, yeah, I get it." She puts her hand down on the seat of the bench they're sitting at and looks behind her towards someone's laughter by the fire, and the proximity is enough that Archie's breath hitches. Oh, great, so her body being close to his general vicinity is enough to give him a heart attack, but holding her hand and walking and talking was fine? He's such a loser.

Archie sighs and scrubs a hand over his face. It's… it's been a long day. And why is he doing this, anyway? Natalie tells him that she likes him, albeit awkwardly and in a roundabout-way, and he asked her out because he thinks he liked her too. Scratch that, he knows what his feelings for Natalie are, and they go up and above the definition of 'like-liking', as a middle-schooler would so eloquently put it.

"I wonder what it's like, being normal." Natalie says absentmindedly, watching the antics of another young man telling a story about their friend who was inexplicably called 'cheese pizza'. They're a pretty good ways away from the fire, on a bench alone by the tree line Lynn and Eli and Amelia had disappeared past. He isn't sure how to answer that question at first because he liked to think he WAS pretty normal all things considered, but instead she turns in her seat and looks at him.

"What about you?" she says, the edge of her lip curving upwards. He's so smooth, he didn't even say anything yet. "What do you think?"

"I think I'd like to kiss you," Archie tells her matter-of-factly. Natalie goes rigid as a board for a moment, taken aback by his honesty. She laughs though, eventually. Maybe it's his goofy grin, or his candor, or the way that he's looking at her- but it's genuine. She smacks his arm lightly, and what she says next takes them both by surprise. The liquor was talking, but she didn't care. "Well why don't you then?"

"Ow! Um… what?"

Natalie's expression is completely neutral, but the faint blush tinging her cheeks is visible even in the darkness and it kind of gives her away.

"Oh."

There's a pause. 

"Can I kiss you?" It's a question this time, voiced softly as she looks at him through hooded eyelashes. Archie nods jerkily without really thinking about it, because of course he wants to kiss Nat, but changes his mind almost immediately after. He needs time to consider the implications of this. It doesn't matter, though, because Nat is already leaning forwards with far more grace than he could ever muster even sober. Her breath is soft on his face for a moment before she closes the gap, and unlike when they held hands this time his body doesn't freeze. In fact, it does exactly the opposite – his left hand moves up to cradle her jaw out of its own accord, and he shifts his head slightly downwards to improve the angle. He's taller than her, even when they're sitting down. He has to bend a little to make their position work, but it's not the slightest bit uncomfortable and he loves it. His heart monitor is going off, and one of Natalie's hands falls over his wrist. He feels a sudden jerk tug- and his eyes flash down catching just enough of a glimpse to tell that she had torn the band. The sound dies, and he finds himself too busy with other things to continue thinking about the goofy gadget.

Natalie tastes like spearmint and coffee, which is not a combination he'd usually find appealing but in this case it really really is. They should make a candy this flavor, he'd buy up the entire world's collection in about a week. But then, he thinks, maybe it wouldn't be the same, because it's not really the spearmint or the coffee that's amazing, it's Natalie, and she's just one of those things that you can't bottle and sell. Which is a shame, because he'd buy up the entire world's collection of Nat in a day.

The kiss starts off soft, but once he realizes she's responding and deepens the kiss Nat opens her mouth against his and all bets are off. She twists her fingers into his hair to keep him where he is – like he'd ever leave – before biting his lower lip gently, then soothing it with her tongue. With her tongue. He feels like he's on fire, but the good kind of fire, the kind that keeps you warm and happy and not the kind that burns down your house or your hand.

His hand moves from her face to the back of her neck, still without his permission, and tangles itself in her beautiful dark hair. He kisses her harder, and kind of sloppily due to general inexperience, but Natalie either doesn't notice or doesn't care. From what he knows, she's even more in the dark than he is. She grabs the front of his shirt with so much force that she nearly rips it, and makes this whiny little moaning noise that bypasses his brain completely and travels straight downwards to his –

Screaming. From deeper in the woods. Gunshots- four total.

Few things could sober a man up as quickly as the sensation of danger. The fear, the adrenaline, they all seemed to wake the body up. As with anything it never fully diminished the effects, but it brought Archie a whole lot closer to his normal self than he had been. Except this isn't his normal self. The breathing that had once been husky and eyes that had been passionate were now labored and filled with fear. His hands fall to her shoulders and he pushes her away- not hard enough to be rough, but enough to break the kiss. His head snaps to the woods. All he can remember is screaming, and pain. Bullets peppered him, digging into his skin and him lashing out against the pain with tooth and claw. The first [i]clear[/i] memory, staring down the barrel of a gun that was being handled by people he had known his whole life.

"Eli." Archie said abruptly, followed shortly by "Shit, Amelia and Lynn."

Natalie was taken aback by sudden break, but the gunshots had shaken her too. She wasn't sure how to feel about Lynn, but the other two had been kind to her. She followed his eyes in the direction of the woods and then met his. "We should go. Find them, I mean."

Archie nods shakily, all previous thoughts leaving his mind. He had to make sure his friends were okay. He couldnt let what happened to him happen to them. He couldn't- His chest was burning, and he was already several inches taller than he had been prior. He felt Natalie press her hand on his terrifyingly cool skin. He closed his eyes and focused on reigning himself in. "You're okay, Archie." she said, her hand wrapping around his bicep and squeezing. He breathed. He was okay.

The sounds of yelling and crying were easy enough to follow- it felt like he could hear the whole Promise anyway. What worried him was that he could smell- no, he could [i]taste[/i] blood in the air. It was scary how quickly he navigated the woods, his nose making him a literal bloodhound of a person and leading him to the deadfall in what felt like less than a minute. He skidded to a halt when he heard Eli's labored breathing- Natalie just about running into his back because he had stopped so fast. He gave her a quick 'sorry', but was almost too distracted to think properly. [i]Breathe.[/i]

Lynn was easy enough to spot, she lit up like a light bulb in the dark. He glanced over her while she stashed something by a tree and was able to gather that she was unharmed- at least in any major way. He shifted his gaze again to the deadfall, his eyes finding Eli and Officer Radvi's bodies because they lit up with soft heat that the rest of the surroundings didn't have- aside from Lynn and Natalie that was. Officer Radvi was hurt, and Eli was doing [i]something[/i] in an attempt to help. They both oozed with the scent of sweat, adrenaline, and the irony taste of blood. He didn't even know what he was going to do to help, but he slid down the deadfall and quickly filled an open space besides Eli, opposite to a damaged and brutalized Freaky-D. He allowed one of his arms to slide across her shoulders to stabilize her- whatever she was doing was taking a toll on her well.

Officer Radvi was in a bad way. A good portion of his jaw was gone, as was his eye. He had an alarming hole in his skull. Archie's heart was beating out of his chest. He turned to look up the deadfall and shouted. "Natalie! Have Cara get help! Officer Radvi's hurt bad!" he turned his attention to Freaky-D. "Please, D, go get help!"

Despite the smell of blood, and the screaming, the fear, and the confusion of what the hell had even happened, Archie breathed. He wasn't going to turn. Not here, not when they needed all hands on deck.