A million thoughts ran through her head, but it was one that struck Rory so hard that she couldn't reply to Eddie.

He walks around to open the car door for her, a gesture she's never experienced with the immature boys she's gone out with before. Awkwardness bubbles up as she sits in the car with only the chauffer, waiting for him to walk around the car. Gently, he opens the door and reaches his hand in for her to take. It seems like a sweet gesture, but later she discovers it is one to suggest she is incapable of doing anything without a man helping her.

"How do you know where I live?" Rory asks him.

He smiles, sickly sweet. "I have connections, Aurora."

"Oh," she says meekly, holding her purse against her body and wanting to reach for her keys but wondering what is considered rude. He walks her to the door, hand on her lower back, pushing her along, keeping her within reach at all times.

"Good night, Aurora, I would like to see more of you soon," he suggests.

It's their third date, and she thinks she would like to see more of him to. He's been sweet, taking her out to places she never would have dared step foot in unless it was to apply for a dishwasher position. High end restaurants and art galleries, it's a wonderful gesture to take her to these places, but she wouldn't mind that little Indian place just down the street, or the sushi restaurant that is a hole in the wall.

He leans down, hand pressing firmly against her lower back, and surprises her with a kiss. She shouldn't be startled by it, and yet she finds herself shocked, but kisses back for it is polite to do so. The kiss lasts longer than she expects, and she finally steps back and he releases her from his grasp. He smiles sweetly at her.

"Until next time, then," he says gently, walking back towards his fancy car where the chauffer waits for him.

She waits until he is gone before she pulls out her keys and enters her humble apartment – she wonders as she walks up the flights of stairs, if she wanted that kiss.

"What?" Rory blurted, snapping herself out of her reverie.

"That was a dumb question," he said in a strained whisper, head turning slightly as though looking at someone else who might show up to save him from this awkward moment.

"No," Rory corrected herself. "No one's ever asked me before."

"So that's a no?" He narrowed his eyes, confused by her conflicting information. Was she saying no to the question, or was she saying no to it being a dumb question.

Rory shook her head, her hair swaying in front of her. She brushed it back behind her ears, then looks straight at Eddie, gauging his question, everything about him she knows up to this point. He makes her feel something she hasn't felt in ages, something she never felt with him, and the fact that there is no fear amplifies her attraction to him. Of course she wants to kiss him, she realized, and she worried that the moment passed by and she let it slip through her fingers.

Instead of answering, she stepped closer to him, feeling his warmth and feeling his emotions. She reaches over and touches the bare skin of his forearms, strong, firm, comforting. His hand touched her cheek, his calloused fingers touching her smooth skin. Stepping closer, Rory pressed her lips to Eddie's for the first time, tasting the essence of wine upon his tongue. Eddie's reaction was to kiss back, though his actions suggested that he was surprised that yes, Rory did want him to kiss her.

Rory took another step forward and Eddie took a step back to balance them, like a dance they know off by heart yet have never done together. His back hits the wall of the building, hands finally settling; one on her shoulder and the other on her hips. Rory took a note that his hands are located in a completely unthreatening way; she could take a step back and be away from him.

He held her there.

Rory stepped back with a gasp, covering her mouth with her hands as though she got caught in a terrible act.

"That good, eh?" He said with a playful tone; Rory had known him for a month, and she never saw him smile like that before. It was warm.

She kissed Eddie again, this time shoving all thoughts of him out of her head. Her heart hammered in her chest, pulse elevating as she hungrily kissed him, hands running through his hand and messing it up. He didn't care; he kissed her back with as much passion as she showed.

They both had thoughts running through their heads.

He's nothing like him.

She's nothing like Annie; she's different.

It was the cold that forced them to stop first; Rory shivered under Eddie's touch and he broke from the kiss, unsure if that shiver was from the cold or from the kiss. To keep her warm, Eddie wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and rubbing his hands over her back.

"Good lord, you're freezing Rory," he exclaimed. "Let's get you inside."

Rory walked under his wing, leaning into him and wrapping her arm around his waist. Only when they were three floors up did Rory part from Eddie, the warmth of the building combined with the exercise making them both start to sweat. Nervously, Rory reached her hand down and slipped it into Eddie's. His hand dwarfed her delicate one, but she felt safe in his grasp.

When they reached their apartments, there was a question lingering in the air – where did they go from here?

"Let me walk you home," he joked, leaning in close and kissing her flushed cheek.

She smiled, pulling her key out of her coat pocket and walking to her door, still holding Eddie's hand. As she opened the door, she turned back to look at Eddie's hand, then trailed her gaze up his arm to his face, where he was still giving her that warm smile.

"Hey Eddie?" she asked.

"Mm?"

She decided to be blunt. "I want to pull you inside my apartment right now, I want to see where things will go, I wouldn't tell you no or turn you away... I want all of that, but I'm not ready for that."

His smile was still there, warm as the sun. "Rory, that's not what I'm doing right now, that's not what I'm trying to get from you."

"I know, and that's why I want that. I know if we do this now, I'll screw it up. I'm screwed up, and that's... that's gonna take time to fix."

She took a breath, feeling eighteen months of anxiety slipping out into her words, yet withering away when she was in the presence of Eddie.

Eddie leaned in and kissed her on the cheek again. "Rory, slow down."

She held her breath now.

"We're in different places, and yet we're here together, you know? I think that's for a reason," he explained, his words cryptic and yet Rory understood them. Him recently out of a serious relationship, not quite moved on from loving Anne; she long since freed from a relationship, and yet still shackled by it.

"But right now, I just want to kiss you good night, and hopefully see you tomorrow morning with a cup of coffee. Can we do that?"

"Mhmm" she mumbled while nodding her head too fast, too many times.

He grinned again, reaching his hand up and curling it underneath her hair, then he leaned down and kissed her. This time it ignited something within her that she wouldn't be able to ignore anymore. Whatever this was with Eddie, she wanted it, but she resisted that temptation to pull him in by the collar of his shirt – she wouldn't let Eddie become another one of her one-night stands, where she slipped out and never texted back.

He was worth more than that to her.

He broke from the kiss, stepping back and letting his hand trail down her arm; their fingers hooked together then split.

"Good night, Rory," he said as he began walking backwards to his apartment.

Rory touched her fingers to her lips, the ghost of that kiss still upon them. "Good night, Eddie."

-----

So I went and saw Venom, again. And I got a ton of inspired ideas this time, but most of them pertaining to the actual events of the movie after Eddie and Venom are together. So I'll continue on down this road, keeping to the six month time period, but I will also be writing Rory into the events of the film!

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