Into the Fire

A/N—The title comes from the expression “out of the frying pan (and) into the fire”. I picked it because the god Bella picks out is Pan. Get it? Good.

Disclaimer—I don’t own the plot/characters for Twilight, duh.

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“Bella? . . . Bel—la . . . ” Edward waved his hand lightly in front of her dazed face.

Bella’s eyes at first didn’t flinch at Edward’s hand which made him pout slightly and lean towards her, his interest at her odd behavior piqued. He examined her face more closely. She looked beautiful, as per usual, but her face held a certain blankness and her eyes had a certain glossiness that was off.

“Bella?” his voice did not hold the same light tone as it had before and was instead laced with slight over-protective apprehension.

Bella blinked her eyes twice in rapid succession and shifted in her seat. Furrowing her eyebrows a little in confusion, she focused in on her surroundings: she was holding a coffee cup which hovered near her parted lips without actually touching them and Edward was to her left, leaning against the table’s counter with a concentrated gaze which she noticed was centered on her. Had she been daydreaming?

“Ah—did you say something?” she squeaked out before ducking her head and taking a sip out of her mug in an attempt to hide her blushing.

“I asked you how your art class went today and then you stared off into space instead of responding.”

Her face heated up more and she tilted the mug closer to her face, again in an attempt to conceal her expression. The move backfired, however, when the increased flow of steamy coffee filled her mouth when she wasn’t paying proper attention. In a very unlady-like manner she choked and spit out the excess liquid back into her cup, quickly setting it down to at least cover her mouth while she attempted to cough the fluid out of her lungs.

Edward scooted closer to her and began rubbing her back in soothing circles as she hunched over the side of her seat. This kind gesture did not help Bella’s embarrassment any, she dully noted, after her coughing fit subsided and she was left with the rushing sensation of blood flowing to her head. Taking a moment to collect herself as best she could while her hair was still covering her bent head, she tried to calm her racing heart and put on a straight face. Then, in a move that she hoped was half as graceful as Edward’s usual movements, she lifted her head while at the same time pushing her loose hair back with both her hands and turned to face Edward.

She cleared her throat one last time for good measure before speaking. “Art class was fine. Hah . . . ” Her smile struggled to stay in place after she heard her words escape her mouth; they sounded so fake.

To her chagrin, Edward did not buy her poor excuse. His eyebrows knit together in his classic worried face. “Then, it was so bad that you have to lie about it?” he asked. His voice held an unintentional edge of harshness in it.

Bella cringed at the sound of his voice. “No, really—it wasn’t bad,” she held up her hands in a defensive way. “It’s just . . . ” she looked down at the floor for a moment before her eyes returned to Edward’s face, “I got an assignment.”

In silence, he let her words sink in for a moment, all the while noticing Bella’s cheeks becoming increasingly red again.

“An assignment,” he repeated slowly.

She shook her head stiffly and then put her face in her hands to hide her blush. She figured her face must look like a stop sign by the rate at which blood was flowing to her head.

Edward’s worry over her abnormal behavior turned into amusement. He tried to suppress a smile from forming on his lips. “So it was an . . . embarrassing assignment?” He placed his hands over hers and delicately pulled them away from their position shielding her face. “Hmm?” he implored.

“You’re enjoying this,” Bella said with mock indignation after viewing his expression. His mouth was drawn into a tight, thin line in his efforts not to smile or laugh at her predicament.

At this, Edward laughed, confirming her suspicions. His laugh eventually quieted down and melded into a smile. Bella silently noted the way his canine teeth rubbed against his bottom lip and licked her lips in response.

“So, what was it?”

“What was what?” Bella absently asked, still staring at his bottom lip.

He chuckled again and gave Bella a quick kiss before repeating his question.

“Oh, right. I don’t want to think about it.” She turned to face forward again and picked up her coffee mug. She titled it toward her lips only to be reminded that there was little left after having all but chugged it down earlier.

“Bella,” he said in what he hoped sounded like a stern voice.

“Yes?” she said innocently. She snuck a glance at him.

“Tell me.”

“Maybe later,” she replied lightly.

Edward growled low in his throat and placed his hands on his girlfriend’s hips. In one swift motion he rotated her position on the chair so she was facing him and brought his face down to hers. They shared a searing kiss that consisted mainly of Edward maneuvering his expert mouth over Bella’s in a way that left her seeing stars and feeling little bursts of electricity emanating from her lips. All too soon for her, he pulled away and rested his forehead against hers. She was the only one of the two who had difficulty breathing afterwards but Edward didn’t seem to mind that she was left panting.

“You were saying?” he said in a low voice after her breathing had calmed.

She gave him one last look of despair before starting her explanation. “Mr. Cantanzzo is combining the study of ancient Greek sculpture with anatomy,” she squeaked out. She closed her eyes in anticipation of his reaction but he remained silent. Hesitantly, she reopened her eyes, thinking that Edward might be speechless but oddly enough he looked at her blankly. He still didn’t get it yet, she thought with horror. She was sure he would pick up her meaning right away without her having to spell it out for him.

She continued on with even more nervousness. “He put a bunch of names of Greek gods in two separate hats—one for the guys in the class and one for the girls—and we each took turns picking out the name of the god or goddess we will have to draw . . . ” She again broke off to look at him. He still wore the same face of not understanding.

“Naked, Edward.” Her voice cracked.

His expression finally showed the recognition she had been dreading and his mouth formed a perfectly stunned ‘O’.

“Well,” his voice cracked as well and he abruptly coughed to clear his throat before continuing, “that’s per-perfectly normal in art, Bella.” He gave a small, hesitant smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “And the deity you chose was . . . ?”

“Pan,” she said in a small voice. As she expected, his less than thrilled reaction led to a very awkward atmosphere between them.

“A male god,” Edward said, more to himself than to her. Although he couldn’t blush, Bella could tell he was feeling as embarrassed as she had been earlier by the way he avoided eye contact with her and how he alternated between wringing his hands and tousling his own hair.

“A-All the girls in the class were given gods . . . and all the guys were given goddesses,” she stuttered out. “I forgot to mention that, I guess.” She gave a small, hollow laugh. “Actually, all the guys were pretty excited,” she added as an afterthought.

“I’m sure,” he said with a smile. He turned and pulled up a chair on the other side of Bella so that they were both seated. “I’m not that familiar with Greek mythology now that I think about it,” he tried to say this casually. “Pan is the god of . . .”

“Fertility.”

He was silent for a moment thinking of what to say. “Oh,” he said lamely after coming up with nothing.

“A-and pastures.”

“Pastures, that’s nice.”

Bella groaned. “Edward.”

Edward seemed to snap out of his trance when he noticed her apparent discomfort. He gave a genuine laugh, albeit a short one for the first time since she announced her assignment. “I’m sorry, love.” He lifted her a little and set her on his lap so that he could rest his chin against her shoulder and breathe in the scent of her hair. “I’ll be fine, you’ll be fine. Is this one of those art things where they bring in male and female nude models? Is that why you’re nervous?” he tried to ask lightly.

She shook her head slightly, bringing more of her scent toward his nose. He angled his head closer so it rested against the crook of her neck and he could feel the vibrations from her vocal chords when she spoke.

“Not exactly. It’s an outside assignment, meaning we have to do it on our own time.”

Edward frowned against her neck. “So you don’t need a model?”

“I can’t hear you, you’re mumbling against my neck.”

“Sorry,” he sheepishly pulled away and repeated himself.

His question brought back the blush that she seemed to be fighting since their conversation started. “It just means he’s not providing a model.”

“And I’m guessing basing . . . you know, basing it on the Statue of David, or the like, would be out of the question?”

“Wait here,” Bella instructed as she silently left the kitchen. “Isn’t he supposed to know all this already?” Bella muttered to herself in dismay as she entered her room and picked up her bag. She grabbed the folded pages containing information on Pan that she had printed out in the library earlier that day and, with scuffling feet, she returned to Edward’s side. Without any further words she handed the sheets to him.

“Pan, in Greek religion and mythology, is the companion of the nymphs, god of shepherds and flocks, of mountain wilds, hunting and rustic music. He has the hindquarters, legs, and horns of a goat. He was worshiped by shepherds as the protector of their flocks against wolves, and at the same time as the promoter of the fertility among sheep,” Edward read aloud and smiled slightly. “Oh, so he guarded against wolves, did he? He doesn’t sound too bad.” He looked up at Bella.

She did not return the smile. “That’s not the important part,” she replied quietly. “It’s the part on the next page.” With shaky fingers, she pointed to the second paragraph. “Don’t read it out loud,” she warned.

He read the next part silently to himself:

Erotic aspects

Pan is famous for his sexual powers, and is often depicted with an erect phallus. Diogenes of Sinope, speaking in jest, related a myth of Pan learning masturbation from his father, Hermes, and teaching the habit to shepherds.

He was believed by the Greeks to have plied his charms primarily on maidens and shepherds. Though he failed with Syrinx and Pitys, Pan didn't fail with the Maenads—he had every one of them, in one orgiastic riot or another.

“Oh, well—I see why he’s the fertility god now.”

“I don’t think the Statue of David fits that description,” Bella commented mirthlessly. She tried to be more direct with Edward, figuring that getting everything out in the open would end the current topic of conversation faster, and as a result, end the tension between them faster. “I–I have no idea what that looks like, of course,” she quickly peeked at him before looking away again. “It’s okay, though. I guess. I can j-just make conjectures, use my imagination. Or look on the internet or something,” she quickly threw out the last part of her sentence.

With his hearing, he caught every word. “I won’t let you look up erect phalluses on the internet, Bella.” His tone of voice told her he was being very serious.

“I didn’t really mean that,” she said in a small voice. “B-but what am I supposed to do?”

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A/N—I haven’t decided whether or not I’m going to extend this chapter and make it a (semi-)long one-shot or add another chapter and make it a two-shot, yet. We’ll see. All I know it that it’s the end of the school year, I have a shit load of work left to do, and I can’t stop procrastinating until I post this stupid story.

Thanks for reading all the way to the end~! :3

–staticshakedown