Archive of Our Own ^beta

“If you’re going to lie to me about the movie time, can I at least borrow your sweatshirt?” Kim wasn’t necessarily cold yet, but there was something so distantly nostalgic about the tableau of it all. It would have been a shame not to take advantage. And she would die before admitting it.

Jimmy wrestled the crewneck over his head, maneuvering swiftly and clumsily around the Esteem’s steering wheel. He seemed a tad embarrassed as he handed the crewneck to her as if silently shaming himself for not thinking of it first. In a way, they were both acting like giddy teenagers.

“I didn’t lie, I happened to forget that Halloween weekend means midnight showings of Halloween instead of ten o’clock showings,” Jimmy confessed. She half-believed him. “Besides, if someone would have stuck to the original plan, you would have had time to change and eat.”

Kim told both of them she’d leave on time at five, go home, and be ready for pickup no later than seven. She half-believed herself. So did Jimmy, which is why he called before leaving his place and they ended up leaving the HHM parking garage together at nine forty-five. His playful retort also had a very weary truth at its core. She was burning herself at both ends. But to be fair, so was he. Maybe he was just better at it. They both needed this and her pang of guilt was swept away the moment she put her fingers to her blouse buttons.

“Woah, Kim — shouldn’t we at least give the illusion that we’re interested in watching Laurie Strode do the same thing she’s been doing for twenty years?” Jimmy’s anticipatory eyes lowered to her hands, pure instinct.

“Presumptuous,” Kim tsk’ed, halting her movement, “Close your eyes, I’m changing.”

Jimmy chuckled, the sound stalling off into an equally amused scoff when he realized she wasn’t joking. He obliged her, eyelids even scrunching to communicate the effort it took to keep them closed. Always the obedient one when it would pay off for him later. He wasn’t exactly subtle about picking a secluded spot in the back of the drive-in, parked along the property’s fence in the far, right-hand corner of the lot.

Kim took her time, confident in the dark blanket of sky midnight draped them in, and every car’s eyes being redirected to the screen with the roll of synth-filled opening credits. Her cautious movements evaded tipping the rounded-off bucket of popcorn in her lap.

She tugged at each sleeve, the cuffs stopping halfway up her palms. It was definitely something of his he had brought back from clearing out his childhood home. The ’Super Bowl Bound Chicago Bears’ screen printing was cracked, material worn to pills, and accidental cigarette burns littered the left sleeve. Wearing it felt like knowing Jimmy for a lifetime before this. Maybe they’d get there. They hadn’t talked much about his mom since she passed, but Kim could pick up on the waves of grief when small things like a sweatshirt would surface. She carefully rolled her blouse between her hands, setting it somewhat safely in the backseat.

“You can open them now,” Kim said.

He turned his head towards her, opening his eyes last as if she was the first thing he wanted to take in. The way that he looked at her, with such warmth, caused a surge of fight-or-flight-laced panic beneath the surface of her chest. He shouldn’t be looking at her like that, but she shouldn’t be nervous just from holding eye contact. Their definitive line in the proverbial sand kept shifting in the wind with nuanced contingencies.

She was the first to look away.

“So, Haddonfield... I’d assume that’s pretty far away from Cicero,” Kim diverted from her discomfort to the fictional location captioned across the screen. The tightness in her chest unfurled with each breath. “Closer than you think if you have a car,” Jimmy reached across the center console, grabbing at the popcorn. He jostled the kernels around his palm before lifting his hand to his mouth.

“Hm…” she glanced down at his roaming hand, going back into the bucket for seconds, “Quite the alibi.”

“Are you cross-examining me, counselor?”

“No, of course not. It’s incredibly convenient, is all…” Kim’s hand snaked its way into the bucket, gathering a comfortable grasp of popcorn within her fingers.

“Well, sure. If you ignore the height difference, age difference... my fear of blood,” Jimmy trailed off while he fought his muscle memory to wipe his buttery hand across his jeans. She handed him one of the wadded, brown paper napkins from concessions that had been wedged between the console and passenger seat. He nodded in thanks, “Then, yeah. Okay, incredibly convenient.”

“Presumptuous and defensive tonight,” she wrung her own napkin around each fingertip on her right hand with painstaking consideration, “That’s a dangerous combination.”

In an instant, Jimmy lunged from the driver’s seat at her, emitting a playful growl. His lips loosely met her neck, the tips of his teeth tickling at her sensitive skin. Kim squealed, and an unanticipated mix of screams and pure laughter escaped from her. He continued to tease the routes along her neck and jawline, alternating fluttering, chaste kisses with short flicks of his tongue. Her reflexes induced her body to curl, accidentally knocking the popcorn to the car floor.

“Wait,” Kim managed to say between rolling fits of giggles, snapping out of the moment, “Let me get that.”

“Leave it,” Jimmy nearly begged into her ear. The whine in his voice clashed with the sharp sensation of his teeth sinking into her earlobe. Every hair from her arms to her neck stood at attention, a much-needed and missed ache ignited in her core. She could tell that his movement was limited, which was growing more frustrating as each moment passed.

“Jimmy,” a better alternative striking her imagination, “Go back.” She could see the flash of puppy-like dejection in his eyes; her reassurance was already in motion as she swung herself over the center console, straddling his lap. Her hands snapped to either side of his face, holding him completely still as she brought her lips to his.

Kim’s tongue licked its way into Jimmy’s mouth, his various vocalizations swallowed by her hungry pursuit of more. He tasted like popcorn, spearmint gum, and her cigarettes. Their shared affections no longer felt like an exhilarating secret. They started becoming familiar and missed. Tasting like their movie nights and reminding her of study breaks. Jimmy’s hands explored underneath her borrowed sweatshirt, the heat from his touch radiated through the cups of her bra. His calloused thumbs brushed above her bra line, an explorative pursuit despite him knowing the map by heart.

It had been so long, too fucking long, since they had last been able to do… whatever the hell was going on. And she hated herself for the neediness crawling out of her skin. She ground her hips against his pelvis, her own way of begging for him to let her have it.

He grunted, the reverberation lingering on her lips, his bulge already protruding below her thigh. Jimmy had always been so eager to please, but it was evident the heart on his sleeve needed more tailoring than usual. And she’d be lying to herself if she wasn’t in a similar place as of late. His arms encased her waist; he leaned forward, which meant she leaned back and —

The horn of the Esteem sounded, pressed by either her ass or his arms but she didn’t care to figure it out as she flinched away from the steering wheel. Her heart raced, pumping scolding hot adrenaline up through her ears. They collectively held their breath, Jimmy the first to move, barking a hearty, guffaw-like laugh. She could hear his laugh rattle in his neck; her laughter rolling alongside it shortly after. It was okay to laugh if Jimmy laughed — power in numbers.

“Is anyone looking?” Kim asked.

“Well, if they were, they’re not anymore,” Jimmy assured her, his previously paused wandering hands slowly continued exploring her ass.

“I’m getting in the back,” she said, purely on impulse. The roaring in her ears was louder than any justification reason could provide.

“Wait — really?” he asked, eyes wide in surprise.

“You don’t have to join me,” Kim challenged.

With some clumsy maneuvering, they had relocated to the backseat. Her back was splitting the difference between the door and the backseat. His knees bracketed her hips. It was a tight fit, a fully clothed and tight fit, but a fit nonetheless. If anything, the lack of ample space and abundance of clothing made her want him more.

His fingers worked at the button on her slacks. The friction wasn’t nearly low enough. Kim took his hand in hers, guiding it lower to assist elsewhere while she unbuttoned. She felt his fingertips trace the seam between her legs, the fabric muting his finessing. Kim shimmied her pants down low enough, just low enough for —

“Jimmy, oh fuck,” Kim cried out as he slid a finger inside of her. She curled forward and extended her hand to unbutton his jeans. As she went to lay back down, she was painfully reminded of the car door within her proximity. Her head hit the door with a distinct ’smack’. An inaudible ow reflexively formed on her lips.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, grabbing his wrist and manually pumping himself into her as if he wasn’t going to believe her unless she were to prove it.

Jimmy resumed, hesitant at first, until a shuddering whimper made its way through her gritted teeth. It wasn’t going to be the most mind-blowing sex, she knew that. It was the thrill of sneaking around; fogging up the car windows and setting the scene for their own slasher flick.

“Here, watch your head,” he said, holding her by the hips and shifting her down. She minded her head, laying down fully in the backseat. He removed himself from the confines of his boxers, actively working on solving the puzzle of the best angle for the job. Kim let her left leg fall slack, her thigh out to the side. As she went to wrap her leg around his hips, she felt the heel of her shoe puncture the interior of the back of his passenger seat.

“Shit, Jimmy —” her panic started to set in, “I’m so sorry!” she pulled her shoe from the seat, an unmistakeable hole left behind. Kim could start to hear the criticism echo through her head, she should have been more careful. This was the first major purchase he made after moving to Albuquerque. Do you know how much this is going to cost to fix? She couldn’t explain where this wave of guilt was coming from, but she was going to fix it.

“Kim,” Jimmy tried to get her attention but her mind was racing a mile a minute on solutions for repair. He squeezed his hand around her thigh, “Kim, look at me.” Her eyes finally broke away from the spot, wanting to avoid eye contact with him as if she put a bullet through his car and not the heel of her shoe. She could feel the furthering indentations of his fingers around the round of her thigh. “It’s okay,” he reassured her, “It’s okay. It’s just a car. It’s just the seat of a car. The whole thing’s pretty much held together by duct tape as it is. What’s one more piece?”

She nodded, finally taking a much needed deep breath through her nose. He removed her shoes, placing them with consideration on the floorboards.

“Better?” he asked. Kim nodded again, a wash of relief starting at her arches and continuing upward. “Good.” A beat of silence fell in-between them. Jimmy was trying to come up with things to fill the silence and Kim wanted to bury herself in it. “Do, uh… Do you want to keep going?”

“Yeah,” she affirmed, knowing the second Jimmy put his hands on her again, she’d forget all about it. He gave himself a few strokes, bringing him back up to speed. Kim grasped his shaft from between her legs, using the head of his cock to run the length of her entrance to her clit. They groaned in tandem, the stimulation from these movements could have been sufficient to satisfy them both. But, the safest bet was Jimmy laying entirely on her, out of eyeshot from any potential onlookers.

His rutting was accompanied by short, hot pants on her neck. She welcomed any warmth he was able to give her, still cold despite being the most clothed out of the two. Kim came relatively fast, the cumulative effect from the penetration and fucking in public was a disastrous route to her climax. Jimmy followed immediately after, his face hidden in the crook of her neck.

By the ending credits, they had found themselves back in their respective seats, Kim’s shoes joining the popcorn on the floor of the passenger seat.

“Back to your place, or mine?” he asked smoothly, as if this was a routinely asked question.

“The HHM parking garage,” Kim corrected him, “Nice try.”

“It’s late, Kim. Come on, we can go pick up your car in the morning. No ulterior motives here. I’m not trying to tell you what to do —” as she goes to protest he quickly gets to his point, “— A short walk to from your car to your apartment alone is still a walk alone.”

She sighed, about to break her unspoken rule while wearing his sweatshirt.

“Okay,” she surrendered with the semblance of a smile on the corners of her lips, “Your place.”

“Okay?” Jimmy parroted in the form an overly excited question.

“For safety,” she contextualized the condition to herself out loud, as if that were going to stop her from falling for him even more.