Perks of the Job

Mars had no idea why he had been made prefect his first year at this place but he wasn't complaining. He could take or give points to people for just existing and it was another reason for idiots to leave him alone. There was also the prefects bathroom.

He did not indulge in a lot of luxury. Other than the time his mom had been married to Willem, they had always been poor. Mars didn't care most of the time. The prefects was pretty damn awesome though. The tub was like a swimming pool, it was so large. It beat swimming in cold water.

Having filled the massive tub, Mars stripped and got in. He leaned against the side and closed his eyes, just enjoying the perks of being prefect.

The thing about the prefects bathroom at Hogwarts was that, thanks to the laws of children being children, the password has drifted from actual Prefect to person, to other random person. So although for the most part it was still far more private than the normal bathrooms (Most underlings were not stupid enough to believe they wouldn't get caught if they went in there often enough) it was not as exclusive as the name stated it really ought to be.

So that was how, upon walking out of a room when the noise had started her currently pounding head - she had been dismayed that morning to awake to find it throbbing on her again - spinning, Juliet found herself able to bully and bribe her way into the closest bathroom to her.

The only bathroom in all logic she shouldn't even be in.

Jumping over the entrance, the movement in her head thankfully stalling enough to make her able to walk without looking like she was drunk, the girl made her way swiftly to a sink, hanging her head over the basin, ignoring her slightly pale reflection. In fact, she was ignoring everything in the room. It wasn't until the girl moved to turn on the tap to get cold water to splash on her face (The main reason she had run for a bathroom, rather than almost anywhere else she could find solitude) that she noticed the sounds in the room. The slight sound of water, lots of water, being displaced by...

Straightening slowly the girl froze for a moment, looking at her reflection, or more specifically what was behind it before she turned around, to see it for herself.

The slight pinkish tinge that added to her features almost hid the pasty tone that had been there before. Still, despite her headache - or perhaps because of it - she didn't stutter over her words as she might have in any other situation. Instead it was just a slow upturn of her lips.

"Interrupting alone time, am I?"

Mars leaned his head back to look at her upside down. He gave her a rakish grin. "Body like mine ought to be shared," he said. "Come to see the show?" He turned around to face her.

"Looking a bit pasty, gorgeous. Why don't you come on in and I'll help you feel better." He tilted his head invitingly towards the water, his eyes on her face.

"Always such a high opinion of yourself," the girl grinned, leaning back on the sink, and in fact making no apparent move forward or closer to him. "Unfortunately for your opinions, I had no idea you were in here. Can't come for a show that wasn't properly advertised, now can I?"

From her new position she had a comfortable view of the rest of the room, including the water, and the boy, both of which she watched with appreciation, admittedly one may have been getting more attention than the other. It dawned on part of her mind, although 'socializing' if that were the term one wished to use, with this boy several times, she hardly knew much about him beyond name, and seducing abilities.

"Is that a medical diagnosis then? Summed up my ill health have we, at... bath time is what the doctor ordered?"

"Psychic magnetism," Mars said in a serious tone. "Your subconscious couldn't help but focus on me and eventually brought you here. Would you have preferred I had advertised?"

He smirked at the way she watched him and gave just as much attention in return. There was nothing else in the room as far as his gaze was concerned. Only her.

"I am a well-known cure-all for everything that ails the fair gender." He grinned rakishly. "Tell me you don't at least want to test the theory out."

Gaze was a funny thing, so trivial in theory - an action nothing more, nothing less - and yet in times, when placed upon one in the right place, at the right time, or yet often by any person at all, it becomes completely entrancing. A trap whether by design or complete whims of fate, and the truly remarkable thing about it was, that although it could hold one so firmly in its grasp, they often don't even notice thats what's keeping them in place.

"An advertisement certainly would have been more forthright. Hardly seems fair to my poor conciousness, getting hijacked with no real warning at all."

Juliet, voice calm, level, almost bored really, continued to lean against the sink, making no sign of moment at all, except for her hands which appeared be almost absentmindedly playing with the clasp, ties really, of her school robe.

"Again with that confidence thing. The world must really be close to coming to an end, the day you stop believing you were the greatest thing to walk upon it," her gaze, which had never wavered darkened slightly, deepened with some emotion or another, as an eyebrow raised. "See here I am, hearing everyone saying, you don't look so well, should see a doctor, doctor this, healer that, and here's you coming along telling me all I ever needed to see was you, huh? Am I getting the correct picture?"

Mars chuckled. "I'll remember that for next time," he said watching the way she played with the clasp on her robe.

"Can't have the world ending, now, can we?" he smirked.

Watching her a bit more, he finally pushed himself up out of the water before standing and walking towards her. He didn't bother with grabbing a towel or anything to cover up. Rubbing a hand dry on the sleeve of her robe he then placed his palm against her forehead.

"If people keep telling you to see a healer then maybe you should," Mars said. "What's wrong with you?"

"No," she murmured. Her voice, already quiet, died off completely as the boy got out of the water, her mind getting distracted, losing track of what it had once been focused on, in favour of the new ... stimulation... it had to work with. "I-I suppose we wouldn't."

As he drew closer, she pulled her gaze back up to his face, her own expression reverting back to a closed one, eyes almost shutting down as she felt a hand on her forehead, the skin, which would only feel slightly warm to the touch, nothing too concerning at the moment, prickled at the contact. Her shrug was almost defensive.

"Its nothing I can't deal with."

Mars returned the shrug, giving her an amused smirk. "Then, yes. Seeing me is all you needed."

"I'm noticing we're a bit unevenly attired, though." He fingered the clasp she had been playing with before. He met her gaze, letting his hand slowly return to his side. "Water's nice. You should join me."

Having more or less been invited by his comment, the girl took a moment to look him over, before turning her head to look at herself. The beginnings of a grin pulling at her lips once more, "So it would seem. I suppose, I could fix that..."

Once his hand had removed itself from the clasp, her own replaced it again, slowly moving with more intent as it had before, giving off the illusion that she indeed attempting to undo it, only moments before succeeding at her task, the girl stopped, looking back up. There was a thoughtful frown on her face and a mischievous glint sparking up in her eyes.

"But you know," her hand though stalled, had never moved from the clasp. "I don't recall every in forming you to disrobe, not entirely sure I see how its my responsibility to even this out. Do you have any insight on this?"

This was what he liked about the girl. She was a bit sassy. Not like some of the empty headed girls he dealt with.

"Well," he said slowly. He stepped closer to her and reached up to stroke her hair back behind one ear. "Seeing as how you walked in on my party and my party is strictly clothing-free, I'm afraid I'll have to send you on your way if you fail to meet the dress code." Mars ran a knuckle along her jaw. "I'd hate to have to do that."

"Hm, that sounds like a very strict dress code there, though I would hate to be forced to leave," her grin brightened, "After all, things just started getting fun didn't they?"

Her eyes never straying from the person in front of her - after all, it would be such a waste of a perfectly good view - her hands slowly continued what she had formally started. Pealing the robe off with great care, she looked down with mock surprise to see that there had been clothes underneath it. Cocking her head to the side, letting her hair all fall away, she looked up again.

"I suppose these don't fit with that dress code of yours either," her hands had already begun to work its way through the row of buttons keeping the blouse closed, "They're going to have to go too, aren't they?"

"It would be a great shame," Mars said sincerely. He smirked. "Like what you see, Trip?"

She was undressing slowly on purpose. Mars was well aware of that. He kept his hands to himself and just enjoyed the show. Let her tease. It was only fair.

"Oh, yes," he said, eyes following the movement of her hands. "Those won't do, either."

She gave a passive shrug of her shoulders, "Can't really complain."

The last button came out of its hold with a snap, a nice little column of flesh danced below the new gap. A small flip of her hair, a teasing grin and the blouse was dropped on top of the robes.

"So discriminating, this dress code of yours." Not much taunting left in the skirt, it was gone quicker than everything else, only to leave her frowning at her tights and shoes. "Shame about winter, really - so many layers to get through."

Hoping up onto the ledge of the sink, she started on the shoes, purposely fumbling with the knot she had tied that morning.

"Always did hate these things," she held out her foot to the boy, waving it innocently, "Care to help a girl?"

"If it wasn't, just anyone would show up," said Mars. He smirked at the way she fumbled with the laces. Taking her foot in one hand, he slowly picked the knot open, gaze never leaving her face. He loosened the laces and slid the shoe off. His hand caressed her foot as he did so. He then repeated the action for the other foot.

Mars stepped into the vee between her knees, his hands trailing up her stockinged legs and along her thighs as he did. He nudged her nose with his so she would look up a bit more. Then he kissed her on the lips.

Being almost completely uncovered in a draft filled bathroom logically should have lead to discomfort, at least some recognition of the chill that was undeniably in the air. In the middle of winter it was everywhere in the school. However, as she watched the boy approach, each step bringing him closer and closer, his hands trailing rather intimately up her legs, cold was the last thing on her mind.

"I suppose," she murmured before her lips were occupied in other actions, her hands trailing up along his chest once he was close enough, tilting her head up as instructed, "By that logic, that makes me not just anyone."

Mars put a hand at the base of her back, pulling her completely against him, the other threading into her hair. He kissed her slowly and softly, exploring her mouth with more care than he had previously. He pulled back to gaze into her eyes. His fingers ran lightly up her spine.

"Well deduced," he said. "Now, are the stockings coming off or am I gonna have to just drag you in the way you are?"

"Patiences," she breathed, a slight grin tugging at her lips as he pulled away. She ignored the way her insides jumped, and the protest she wanted to make. "If I remember correctly, you were the one who distracted me from what I was doing."

She started to fidget with the waist band, before she realized in her current position, where she sat, it wasn't going to work at all. Her smile lifted up into a full smirk.

"Though if you don't move a bit, I think you might be forced to at least try."

Mars grinned. "So I was," he said. "Once you got my hands on you, it was hard to behave myself." He gave her another quick kiss and stepped away, hands trailing down along her body until he was out of reach.

"You're a lovely girl, Juliet," Mars said, his eyes studying her with open appreciation.

Having already slipped off the sink, the girl was halfway through the act of removing herself from the binds of her stalking when his words reached her ears. She froze for a slight moment, a fraction of a second where she stopped what she was doing, eyes wide, and blood slowly creeping into her face. She glanced up quickly - the act of pulling off her tights, the only one she had yet to be able to accomplish while still looking at Mars - trying to assess if he was being serious, before she quickly looked back to what she was doing, only straightening once she had finished the task and her tights were in a bunch on top of the rest of her clothes.

"Thank you," she spoke softly, somehow a genuine compliment rather than a flirty comment seemed to have completely undermined the bravo she had been keeping up. A slight grin was pulling at her lips, though she was trying to keep most of it down. "Though I-I bet you say that to all the girls don't you?"

She tried to place her smirk back on her face, go back to flippant comments, but her tone and the light behind her gaze wouldn't agree with her. She was pleased, perhaps too pleased, and she was sure it was still showing.

He couldn't help an amused smirk at her reaction. Her genuine surprise and subsequent pleasure were cute. He stepped close to her again, looking down at her as he caressed her cheek.

"Not all the girls," he said, bending his head to kiss the blush on her face. It was true. Mars rarely refrained from complimenting or flirting with a girl, but he usually used words like "hot" or "sexy". He wasn't sure why he had used "lovely" this time. It just fit.

Mars picked her up, giving her a rakish grin. "Ready to get wet, Trip?"

His response only caused her to blush more, or if not blush more, it actually made sure that the current blush wasn't wearing off any time soon. At least, once the initial pleasant surprise wore off she got a slight better control on how childishly pleased she looked.

"Well now," she said once she was picked up, only pausing a moment to give his question thought. She tilted her head for a moment, "I'm starting to think I don't have much of a choice here, now do I? Ready or not, yes?"

"You catch on really quick," Mars smirked. "You don't have a choice. Did you want one?"

He grazed kisses along her jaw as he moved towards the bath, pressing a final one to her earlobe. Mars gave a mischievous smirk as he stopped next to it. "Hold your breath," he said. Then he jumped into the water with her still in his arms.

The water was warm as it wrapped around her, sliding around her skin, seeping into every pore in moments. Her grip on the boy tightened from surprise - even if she had been expecting it - if nothing else. She had almost missed his order to hold her breath, and was lucky not to have inhaled any of it.

Her hair, now wet and about three shades darker, stuck to her face, almost covering her eyes, as the cold air of the room replaced the warmth of the water. She didn't bother to push it out of the way, even though she was sure she now looked ridiculous.

"Well now you have me in the water. I suppose the question becomes, what are you going to do with me?"

Mars grinned at the way she looked with her wet hair over her face. Pinning her gently against the side of the bath, he pushed her hair back.

"Thought I'd just enjoy your company," he said. He smirked. "Maybe have a little good clean fun." His fingertips moved across her cheek bone then down her nose and over her lips. His hand continued down her neck and over the curves of her body.

"Unless you had something else in mind?"