Chapter 13: Trauma bonding
[2/2]
Looking back on it, using an Ultimate in combat had to have been one of the most freeing things I'd ever done in my life. The sheer power I had as Ultimate Heatblast, I was tempted to call it Agni because for once the PRT was onto something, was almost addicting.
Almost, because I was too focused on wanting to burn the whore alive for trying to kill Taylor. I knew I had to keep her alive, so I didn't compress my fire into a soccer ball and make her experience being in the center of the sun. It was only after she ran like a little bitch that I started to calm down enough to recognize just what I was truly capable of in that form. I hadn't been able to really test out all of my Ultimates, the living star with the ability to reshape a city should make that kind of obvious.
Certain Ultimates were easy to work with, Ultimate Spider Monkey was just beeeg monke with spider legs, Ultimate Wildmutt was Wildmutt but bigger and had a few new additions. Even Ultimate Snare-Oh was trainable, despite the fact he practically became Crocodile from One Piece. (I mean, sure, making sandstorms is cool as hell, but compared to some of the others it's practically tame.)
Finding out that all my forms had an Ultimate Form had been a surprise, but a welcome one. Granted, the 10 minute time limit for them was still annoying, but now I understood it. I had 30+ aliens, all capable of going Ultimate. If the time limit wasn't there, I would've just stayed in Ultimate Gravattack and dropped a black hole on everything. Sadly, I couldn't. (But god it'd be such a tempting thing to do.)
Even worse was that I couldn't train certain forms anywhere near my base. Ultimate Arctiguana passively released air close enough to sub zero temperatures that I'd freeze the mountain and the forest if I fucked up, Ultimate Wildvine would turn said forest into a jungle befitting the amazon if I didn't reign in his ability to create plant life, and I wasn't even going to get started on Ultimate NRG.
Even after I recognized how strong that form was, I swapped back to Heatblast nearly right away so I didn't time out and fucking die from standing in lava. After flying out, I looked at my handiwork, especially the fucking volcano I raged into existence, then flew off. I'd left Taylor at home, and I wasn't going to leave her be. I'd vented enough to have a clear mind, fighting and nearly killing some Kaiju woman was a great stress/anger reliever, and recognize she probably needed me.
And I'd be sure to be by her side this time.
I ended up being right when I got home, I felt Taylor's Discomfort, Fear and Sorrow hit me like a truck.
It took me a second to shake it off and head into our home. The door worked like it was supposed too, and after making sure it was locked up tight, and after taking off my suit, I made my way to my room. As soon as I saw Taylor, I practically teleported to her side. My bed looked like shit, probably because she'd been thrashing around in her sleep, tears on her face showing she had been crying...
It all stopped when I got back in bed and held her, sending over as much Calm and Safety as I could. My Other Half practically collapsed into me, and I just held her as she slept.
Looking at her though, I knew one thing. (I failed.) She'd needed me and I wasn't there. I almost failed her when she was targeted by the false angel, but I left her alone after she nearly died so I could go fuck with an Endbringer. Now, I was not only exposed in my Anubis and Son Wukong identities, but I was on everyone's radar for turning the area into a volcano... And I didn't even get anything from it... (I'm such a fucking idiot.)
Sighing, I held my girlfriend close, and just closed my eyes. Today was a fucking shit show, and the aftermath was going to need me to be as rested and as clear minded as I could be.
So I went to sleep... Eventually, because I couldn't just close my eyes and go to sleep like a normal person.
I was a relatively light sleeper, the only reason I wouldn't be is if I was exhausted to hell and back, so when I felt something moving on top of me, I opened a tired eye to see my girlfriend doing her best to burrow into me like a rabbit. Stupid comparison. I let out a soft huff and ran a hand through her hair, getting a pulse of Affection in return...
And then I realized that I was only feeling a few things from her, none of them negative. Taylor went still in my arms, and I knew what was going on. "... Not... Not now... Please not now." The way her Sorrow and Despair just disappeared faster then I'd ever seen told me that bringing up the fuck up that was the fight would be a bad idea.
So, understanding that, I nodded. [Later then.]
Appreciation flowed from my girlfriend, and she tightened her hold on me. |Thank you.| Humming, I kept running my hand through her hair. It was calming for the both of u...- |I love you.| The wave of Love and Affection I got hit with blindsided me, because holy shit this was something I wasn't expecting at the moment. The experience was like being enveloped in the softest and warmest blanket in the world.
Breaking out of the haze of suddenly feeling complete, I somehow managed to respond. [I love you too Taylor.] And I did. It wouldn't have gone through if I didn't.
Taylor practically froze against me, my own Love probably whacking her like a sledge hammer to the skull, and I felt her thoughts churn as we both processed the sudden confessions.
Safe to say, there was going to be alot of talking later.
Later ended up when we got hungry. It took 2 hours till then, 5 in total after the fight. Neither of us had been in the mood for cooking our own food, so I put some stuff in the microwave and heated it up while she just threw some cereal in a bowl. The day had already gone to shit, so I decided to ignore the diet plan and heated myself up some dino nuggies, because no one was too old for those.
Anyone that said otherwise was a filthy lying heathen that lied.
Anyway, we ate in relative silence, my girlfriend sitting between my legs on one of our big bean bag chairs as she ate... Her heathen meal of Apple Jacks. The thought got me some Exasperation as she looked up at me. "Why do you love the word 'Heathen' so much?"
Munching on one of my last nuggets, I hummed. [Because it's hilarious watching people recognize what I called them, thinking if they heard me wrong, then trying to figure out what to say to that.] My girlfriend blinked at me, then proceeded to stare at me. I stared back, emerald meeting jade, when said jade rolled her eyes and looked away. Goof is going to goof. I grinned at that. [And you looove me for it.]
She whacked one of my knees with her bowl for critical damage. |Too soon to joke about it. Give it a week.| Part of me was amused that she was giving me a time frame, the rest of me was in slight pain from the hit. |You'll be fine.| I would, but still, ow.
My girlfriend snorted at my misery and happily ate her food.
I did the same until I finished munching on my nuggets,
After we finished eating, and brought our dishes back to sink, we went back to the bean bag chair, though this time she laying against me, and thinking.
For a bit, we didn't talk, just taking in the fact we were alive and safe.
Neither of us kept track of how long we were quiet for, but eventually I broke it, because the sooner we got over the whole thing, the sooner we could do literally anything else. "So," She tensed. "Today was a cluster fuck." The sardonic snort from my girlfriend was hilarious to me.
The wave of Fear and Guilt, not so much. "I'm so...- Ack!" I bonked her on the head, an easy thing to do when said head was on my chest. The glare I got for it was a little worrying though. "What the hell?!"
Rolling my eyes at her, I poked her nose, amused at the way her eyes crossed to look at it. "Apologizing makes it sound like it's your fault." But it wa...- I poked her nose again. "No." A bit of Annoyance flowed through the Bond, but I ignored it. "We both fucked up, that's the first thing you gotta understand. Both of us, Mi Reina."
I liked the bit of Embarrassed Affection that my nickname for her created. "I... I don't follow. I decided we were going. I decided to do something you didn't want to do. How do you think YOU did something wrong?!" Raising a brow at my daft, "Excuse me?" Girlfriend, I stared at her and wondered how long it'd take for her to recognize just why I was doing this.
Her thoughts churned, I listened in as she tried to figure out what I was talking about, but after a minute or two of her not getting it, I sighed. "I didn't try to argue against us going." She blinked. But that wouldn't have mattered... I shrugged. "Maybe. If I pulled out all the stops, taking away your suit and guns, threatened to kick you out, argued that this was a horrible fucking idea, I might've managed to convince you..." She twitched multiple times at the things I listed off. "Or you might've still gone out of spite, and in some bargain bin costume." Watching the way my Other Half slowly blinked, then slowly nodded, I grinned. "It says something that you can't disagree."
She huffed at me, then looked away... The small bit of Fear that she didn't get rid of though made me narrow my eyes. "You wouldn't do that though... Right?" I looked at her like she was an idiot. The thought made her look back at me, a small glare on her face. "What? It's a valid question!"
I kept staring. "Taylor, turn over real quick." What? "You heard me. Turn over dummy." Confused, she stared back at me for a bit, then slowly did just that. As soon as she was done, I sat up and pulled her close, a yelp and some Surprise coming from her as her glasses almost fell off, before our lips met. Even more Surprise was both felt and visible as we made eye contact, but it was quickly washed away by the Love and Affection that pulsed through both of us. We both relaxed, our eyes closing as our arms, and Taylor's legs, wrapped around each other.
Eventually we broke apart, a small whine coming from my girlfriend as we separated. I grinned as she opened her eyes, the closest thing to a pout I was sure she'd ever, He'll stop that train of thought if he knows what's good for him. I raised a brow at that. "Considering YOU'RE good for me, that threat doesn't work." My girlfriend blushed, then let out a weak huff as she put her head against my chest. She was adorable, the Embarrassment she felt only made my grin grow. "Anywaaay, the point is no, I wouldn't do any of that. An obvious reason is because our Bond would make me feel like shit," She hummed, a flicker of Annoyance coursing through her at that one. "The other obvious reason is that I love you..." I had to pause when Taylor's eyes snapped towards me, emerald and jade locking together as Love, Affection, and Desire, slammed into me.
The next thing I knew was Taylor's lips crashing into mine, and we were back to kissing. Our bodies pressed together, Desire and even some Lust burning through both of us as our hands unconsciously roamed each others bodies. My girlfriend ended up letting out a surprised moan when my hands gripped her ass, which felt nice considering our diet and exercise had helped her fill out a bit.
We separated a little bit later, Happiness and Joy being the forefront of her emotions. I was pretty sure we both had smiles on our faces, and I couldn't help but ask. "What was that for?"
Dropping her had back onto my chest, and me laying back down against the bean bag chair, she spoke. "Hearing it outloud makes it seem more... Real." I blinked, thinking about the fact our Bond made it impossible to l...- "That's different. Hearing it come out of your lips, hearing it in person, just..." She tra...- |It makes it real to me. It's stupid, I know how the Bond works, we both do, but you saying it outloud like that just does it for me.| I hummed. Understood it. There were certain things you just had to hear to realize it was real.
I almost thought of an example, but then consciously beat it back before because it'd be beyond fucked up at the moment.(I was literally going to write, 'Like seeing a relatives coffin for it to sink in they were gone', then remembered who I was paired with.) Some Suspicion made itself known, but I waved it off. "Want me to say it again?"
My girlfriend deadpanned at me at that, which was a weird look given her deep blush. "Phoenix, if you say it again, while we're like this," She ground against me to accentuate her point, her nipples were hard enough for me to feel them through our shirts, while her stomach pressed against my dick, Fuck, that felt better then I expected, getting a low groan from me as I lightly squeezed her ass. Embarrassment, Lust, Desire, and Amusement rolled off of her, and even with a scarlet blush on her face, she went on. "Then I'm going to push away all my reservations and embarrassment and fuck you right now." I took a second to blink, process that, and think that I wasn't seeing the dow...- Taylor booped my nose, getting another blink as I took in her grin. "'Later.'"
I snorted. "Fine, 'Later.'" I gave her ass one last squeeze, a shudder going through her before I let one hand go back to small of her back. This smartass. My grin was fucking Cheshire. "You kn...-" I was cut off when she fucking growled and shot forward, nipping my neck. The sensation was a weird one, but feeling her lips and teeth on my neck, I groaned, recognizing I Liked it. Note to self, remember to leave hickies. I idly thought to do the same.
After a few seconds, she let go, her head and body shifting as she leaned back to look at me... And given the fact she was currently straddling me, a massive blush on her face as one of my hands stayed on her ass, the other having moved to her side, as my cock pres...- Embarrassment, Desire and Lust were pulling their fucking weight as Taylor immediately went back down, her head burying itself in the crook of my neck as heat radiated off her cheeks, and Embarrassment somehow beating the hornier emotions down. "I didn't think that through..."
(No fucking shit!) I kept on laughing as my girlfriend grumbled against me. Exasperation, Humor, Affection and Love flowed between us, and it was nice.
Almost made us forget what we were talking about.
Almost.
Taylor sighed. "Where were we?"
I blinked, then raised a brow. "You think I remember?" After the both of us nearly lost it and gave into hormones and shared lust, I understandably lost my train of thought. We stared at each other for a bit, then both snorted. "Exactly." My Other Half hummed, one of her hands idly running down my chest... (Wait, when did that get there?)
She let out an amused huff that. "Oh gee, I wonder when." A chuckle made its way out of my throat, and we shared a bout of Amusement for a second or two. Afterwards though, we got back on track. "During the... 'Fight,'" Dread started seeping into her, but I moved my arms, the one on her ass going back to her back while the other went to the top of her head, my fingers running through her hair. Appreciation pulsed from her, We're fine, we got this, and she let out a breath. "The... Corpses..." Ah, those. The Dread came back, Repulsion and Disgust coming with it. I did the tried and true method of sending over Calm and Comfort, idly stroking her head, getting a sigh from her. Someone give me strength to not fuck him right now.
I pretended to ignore that.
We both knew I heard it since a spark of Embarrassment came from her, but it was set down by her other emotions.
After taking her time to breath and stabilize herself, without shunting everything negative to the Swarm, she spoke up. "I thought I could handle it. I saw dead E88 members, we trained in some discount zombie apocalypse with corpses all over the damn place... I... Thought I could handle it..." Sighing, I kept up the comfort routine, waiting for when she was ready to go on.
It took some time, enough for both of our bodies to return to their 'Non horny' state, but she managed it. "I wasn't ready." I punted the SpongeBob meme away with a vengeance. A small bit of Confusion came from Taylor, and she looked up at me with the most 'What?' Look I've seen. Tilting my head a bit, I wondered whether or not to send it, but decided against it because now wasn't the time. Uhuh... Whatever. Shaking that off, she went back to talking. "I wasn't ready for it... None of it really." Another sigh, god were we doing alot of that. "I'm not sure if I ever will to be honest."
I wasn't exactly sure what to say to that. If I were a normal human being, I'd probably be as distraught or worried about it as she was, I ferried corpses around like The Undertaker's understudy, but I just genuinely didn't care about the dead guys. Not exactly news. That just made me hum. |We'll figure it out, I know we will.| We shared a moment of Warmth, and it was nice.
Then a wave of Dread rose and slammed into me. It didn't take a genius to understand what my Other Half thought of, I almost died I almost died Ialmostlos...- I tapped her skull, breaking that spiral before it got started. "Taylor, look at me." She didn't right away, and I had to repeat myself before she actually did. I noticed how unfocused her eyes looked, and felt how hard her heart was hammering in her chest.
Though, that didn't matter at the moment. "You're alive. Right here, right now, you. Are. Alive." I followed that up with a kiss to my Other Half's head, existential dread always lost to physical affection... Well, I was pretty sure anyways since it was working.
Apparently it worked enough to start another kissing session.
I wasn't complaining, merely enjoying it.
After that, we stayed quiet for a bit, Taylor going through the motions of processing her near death, me reassuring her that she was alive. She'd stopped shunting her emotions into the Swarm by this point, so it took time for her to get stable enough for us to continue the conversation.
[Taylor's POV]
"After..." Taking a breath, I tried to keep my voice steady. "After you got me out, what happened?" Something had to have happened. I knew my boyfriend, he was a vindictive and an intentionally cruel person when it came to anyone that genuinely angered or hurt him, and we both knew that extended to me now. We knew we would both go the extra mile for each other, so knowing that The Simurgh almost... Killed, me, I was expecting the worst.
The Cold Amusement coming from him wasn't exactly helping my anxiety. He chuckled, then looked at me, a sort of detachment in his eyes that I knew came from his Apathy. "Words or images?" I took some time to think about that.
Images would help me fully understand what happened, but there was the chance that there would be things that I wouldn't like.
Words would be nice, but I wouldn't be able to get the full picture with just them alone.
Locking eyes with my Other Half, he hummed, knowing my answer. [Brace yourself, that's hell you're walking into.] I didn't have time to question the reference as my mind was suddenly elsewhere.
I saw and felt the Wrath flowing through him when he turned into Heatblast, and gulped when he twisted the dial. I'd seen some of the 'Ultimates', not all of them unfortunately, but enough to know the sheer power some of the higher tiered ones could throw around.
Then came the fight itself.
Watching my boyfriend throw around apocalyptic levels of fire, and even make a goddamn volcano erupt under the feathered bitch, was an experience. I knew he had the power to level the world at his fingertips, but seeing it was something else. It was both the most terrifying, as well as the most awe inspiring thing I'd ever seen.
I watched the entire thing happening through his eyes, and at the end of it I had to just take my time to process what I'd just seen. (Holy shit.) Really, what else could I think? Maybe about how badass I was? Leveling a blank stare at my boyfriend, who was grinning at me in Amusement, I told him what I thought of that. "Much cool, so wow."
His bark of laughter was a little funny. "I knew introducing you to memes was a good idea." I rolled my eyes at him. While I understood the appeal of some of them, others were just stupid. "Whatever you say honey."
I ignored that. "Anyway... That happened." He hummed, looking at me... Like he was waiting for me to bring something up? Cause I am. Frowning, I tried to figure out what he mea...- I paused, mind replaying what I'd just seen, and froze when I realized what he was getting at. Mhm, yep.
At some point, my boyfriend was sent flying from pure telekinetic force, barreling through a building or two, and for a few moments, there'd been a few things in his field of view that I hadn't identified. But those things ended up turning to ash when he got up and made his way out... Those things... "Corpses... Those were corpses, weren't they?"
My Other Half nodded, a sense of Foreboding filling me as I had an idea of where this was going. "Yup. Collateral damage and all that. Not sure how many got caught up in that, but there were atleast a few of em." The Dread was back full force, one of my biggest fears casually confirmed by my boyfriend.
He'd taken lives, even though we both knew it was accidentally, he had still killed innocents.
He'd killed innocents during an Endbringer fight.
He'd broken the TRUCE!
A flick to my head shook me out of my building panic, and I'd met the detached but still Amused gaze of my boyfriend. "You're not allowed to panic. Think it all through, figure out how you feel about it, but no panicking." I stared at him for that, a soothing Calm wrapping me up as my Fear and Dread ebbed away.
Closing my eyes, I took a breath. He had a point, panicking wouldn't help. I needed to think about this as clearly as possible.
My boyfriend, the person who uplifted and saved me, my Other Half, had killed. (So how am I supposed to feel about that?) The normal and rational response should've been me being utterly repulsed, to be afraid of him... But I couldn't feel either of those because I both knew my Other Half in ways others could never, and knew that he'd never hurt me, so I wasn't afraid of him.
The power he wielded did terrify me, seeing what one of the upper tiers of his Ultimates could do was like watching an unstoppable force of nature... But given the fact he only used it because I not only strong armed him into going, but because I almost died, it could be said that it was my fa...- Another flick to my head made me glare at my boyfriend. Though the Annoyance coming from him surprised me. "If I hear 'My fault' or anything else like that, I'm going to spank you." I blinked, idly wondering where the dow...- " He poked my nose, making me blink as Amusement danced in his eyes and side of the Bond. "In the words of my Other Half, 'Later.'" That smug motherfucker! "It'll take a few years, but eventually I'll be one."
I stared at him, no idea what he'd meant... Then I took that statement, because that was what it was, apart... Then came to the obvious conclusion. My eyes widened, and I almost choked. It didn't help when the bastard smirked at me, Love and Interest whacking me upside the head when I'd already been hit.
I wanted to address that right now, because that's not a bomb you just suddenly drop on someone, but I realized that if I pushed this back, I'd probably refuse to address it until it was time for our 'Therapy' day. So, with a sigh, We've been doing alot of that, and agreeing to that thought, I focused on my former train of thought...
Putting the butterflies in my stomach, and the warmth in my chest, away for another time.
Phoenix was powerful, we both knew that, but he hadn't really been doing much with it. He'd been focused on his safety, then my safety, then our comfort, and then our training. He had every right to just go out into the world and burn it to the ground, and he'd probably succeed too given the power of his aliens. "I could also just drop a black hole somewhere and watch the chaos." I leveled the blankest stare I could at my goof, ignoring the smirk on his lips. He really wasn't helping with that comment. "Wasn't trying too Mi Reina."
Huffing, I put my head back down, and closed my eyes, his Amusement being ignored for now.
Anyway, I had an insanely powerful boyfriend who could destroy the world, and he'd broken one of the most important Truces in the world by accidentally killing other Capes... (Does... Does him being a murderer change anything?) That thought made me stop.
My boyfriend was a murderer, that was an unavoidable fact, but was he a different person because of it? (... No, he's not...) It wasn't even a surprise to me, we both knew he was going to kill eventually, he'd told me he was going to kill Jack Slash when he got the chance, and I was fine with that. Innocents were the issue here, but it was hard to hold it against him when I saw he didn't even try to hurt anyone aside from The Simurgh. If it had been in a crowded city or somewhere like that, I'd probably be horrified and, even if it'd hurt, try to take him down... The low hum coming from him came with a bit of Interest, but he didn't say or think anything else.
Putting it aside though, I could compromise this once because I understood that my Other Half wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind. Just remembering the surge of Fear before he reached me made it easy to figure it out. Feeling the low rumble come from my Other Half's throat, and the way he tightened his hold on me, I realized that probably wasn't something he wanted to remember. [I'd rather not remember that, yeah... Though XLR8 is going too, so I'll be fucked later.] I winced. The downside to that form sucked in my opinion, but it was useful. Mhm... "So, what's the verdict?"
Looking up, I met the emerald eyes of my boyfriend, and leaned in close. He understood what I wanted, and happily met me halfway. Our lips met, and we closed our eyes as we gave into each other.
Kissing each other felt right, like this was just the most natural thing in the world, and I loved it.
After a bit, we separated, and I smiled at him. "That answer your question?" He let out an Amused huff, then nodded. "Good boy." A raised brow, Not a dog but okay, and that thought were the only responses to that. "Anyway, we can talk about all of that some more later, now that we know where we stand."
"Kay, now what?"
Remembering what I'd thought about... Earlier, I decided now would work. "Well, firstly, we need friends..." I paused, repeating that in my mind, then shook it off. "Well... Yeah, need sounds about right."
The Baffled Interest coming from my boyfriend was an interesting thing, but I just accepted it. "Okay, I gotta hear this."
That made me roll my eyes. "It's simple. If we had other people we could talk too, then they could've convinced me not to go to that fight, therefore keeping you out of the fight, and we could've avoided the whole thing." Phoenix blinked at that, then lightly tilted his head. It makes sense. Though the issue of who we'd befriend comes up... And the how... We're both socially inept, so how we make friends is gonna be a whole thing... Taking a second to realize that he had a point, I recognized that we were going to need to find a way to do that... Well, worse comes to worse, I can just kidnap us some friends. My eyes snapped towards his own. "What?!"
My Other Half paused, then blinked at me. "I mean, some people would probably appreciate getting kidnapped." The look on my face, and the Confusion I must've been radiating, seemed to be enough, since he went on. "Okay, so there's one person that would probably thank us if we kidnapped her." I raised a brow at that. "Remember Tattletale?" Pausing, I thought of what I knew, and remembered she was that Thinker from the Undersiders. "Yeah, her. Though, issue is I don't know if she's a bitch or not, and given what I know about her, I'd rather not have to spend energy talking to her."
Narrowing my eyes, I just had to ask. "Then why did you bring her up?"
He shrugged. "A viable example exists, that was the point." Ah... Made sense. "Mhm. Anyway, I do have an idea or two of people we'd probably get along with." That sounded interesting. "So, you know how the VI is monitoring our PHO accounts?" I nodded. "Well, Dragon messaged the both of us and asked for a meeting."
...
...
...
(Huh?) He snorted, Amusement bubbling from him. Blinking away my surprise, I huffed at him. "Well excuse me for being surprised that THE Tinker wants to meet us." Well... (It's more that she wants to meet him, but we're a packaged deal, so it makes sense she messaged me too.) Didn't mean I wouldn't fangirl over the fact we were going to meet Dragon...
Well, if he was ok...- "I am. And I mean it, I'm interested in trying something." Now he had my Interest. "If it works, we'll have her as an ally so long as we don't do some real heinous shit, so pretty much forever." I so wanted to know more, but the grin my Other Half gave me pretty much told me he wasn't going to spill the beans. "Not without being bribed."
I narrowed my eyes at him, ideas of just how I could get that information out of him, when my eyes trailed to the hickey developing on his neck. The surge of Surprise and Desire that flowed from him let me know I was on the right track. But then I took a moment to think about whether or not I was ready to start using this kind of affection as bribery...
My mind replayed the feelings of my boyfriend's hands on my ass, how much I liked it, and how good it felt to grind against him... And I realized if I did it right now, we'd probably end up having sex... So now wasn't the best time for that. My day is ruined. Snorting, I looked into his emerald eyes. "My first time is NOT going to be on a bean bag chair you goof."
He hummed, Interest coming up. "So if I carried you off to one of our beds, we'd be good?"
The thought of us having sex made me burn with a want to go for it, and I could feel my body heating up a bit, but I stamped down on it with an iron will, resolving to just smile at my goof. "Not today." The over-exaggerated whine that came from him made my lips twitch. "But soon though." He perked up, his Lust and Desire feeding my own. "But!" I was really enjoying how many expressions I could draw out of him so suddenly. "We need protection. We don't have any condoms or morning after pills." Neither of us had expected our relationship to escalate so...- The bark of laughter that came out of him made me narrow my eyes. "What?"
He sent over the title my original version earned, and I took a second to recognize what set him off. I rolled my eyes, but kept smiling. "Okay, okay, I get it." After a bit, he settled down, and I went back to what I was saying earlier. "Yeah, so we need protection first... And another date... Maybe a dinner." Phoenix hummed at that, and I heard some of his thoughts, the mentions of going to see a movie, an actual restaurant...
A...
Bodega? (What the hell's a bodega?)
"Spanish for store." Looking at him, I wanted to ask why he didn't just say store, "Because I only think of one specific store as a bodega, it was like, a 3 minute walk away from my apartment, and they had the best fucking bacon egg and cheese I've ever had..." Tilting his head, he laughed. "The stereotype is strong in me." That made me snicker. "But yeah, I'll need to see if it exists here, I hope it does, but if it doesn't then I'll go look for a pizza place. Off the top of my head I can think of three different spots along White Plains Road, so one of them hopefully exists... Damn, I really need to go on a run in the Bronx, see what is and isn't there... Hmm..."
While I liked seeing him think about where he wanted to take me for our second date, I wasn't counting all the times we had movie night or anything similar because that'd be cheating, I had to remind him of the now. So, poking his nose, I brought his attention back to me. "Plan later, talk about Dragon now." He let out an amused huff, but nodded anyway. "Alright, so we're going to talk to Dragon... Tomorrow?" It was already late, and I'd rather we talked to her when we were both fully rested.
Taking a bit to think, he nodded. "That works. I can go on my run when we're done."
That sounded good. "Okay. You had other ideas?" Another nod, and he sent over the image anyone would recognize. "Panacea? Why?" I was genuinely curious about this one, for good measure too since she was the strongest healer in the world...
The sudden surge of Amusement was suspicious to me. "I'm pretty sure she's supposed to go insane at some point." My eye twitched. That did not inspire confidence. "Well, stopping her from going insane nets us a healer that I have a few ideas for, someone that can sort of relate to us, hopefully share in our humor... And another friend for your 'We need friends' thing." There were things he wasn't telling me, I knew that, but he just smirked. "If they pan out, we're going to celebrate to high heaven. I don't want to get your or my hopes up though, which is why I'm not saying/thinking anything."
Thinking it over, I slowly nodded. "Fine. But if that blows up in your face, I'm obligated as your girlfriend to laugh at you."
He huffed at me at that. "Fair."
That said, I brought us back to the point. "Say you kidnap Panacea, how do we convince her, and the rest of the world really, that we aren't going to pull some evil mastermind play." From the blank look in his eyes, and the constant, Uhhhh, going off in his mind, I realized he hadn't thought that far. Sighing, I shook my head. "We'll plan it out later, okay?" He agreed, and we moved on...
To... (I think that's everything?) I didn't think there was anything else... Wait... Blinking at what I'd almost forgotten, I felt even worse. Concern came from him, and I could see it from him too. Lightly shaking my head, I let out a tired sigh. "I... I want to see my dad."
The Interest coming from my boyfriend was a good sign. "Tomorrow? Or the day after?" That was even better.
I smiled at him, and spoke. "Tomorrow. After we talk with Dragon, we can go to Brockton Bay. I'll talk with my dad, you can go on your run, and we can meet up later."
He thought about it for a second, then nodded. "That works. Though, you sure you don't want me there?" My blank look made him instantly rethink that question. "What?"
I knew he wasn't stupid, so I gave him a hint. "'Kidnapped.'" Phoenix blinked, looked at me, then got it. Ahh... Forgot about that. I raised a brow. "How?"
He deadpanned at me. "Oh I don't know, maybe it had something to do with our lives here, me constantly working on shit, spending time with my girlfriend, our training." Okay, he had a point. "Course I do." That sounded a little too smug for my liking, so I nipped his neck again, my lips and teeth sucking on his neck, and getting a groan and a bit of Satisfaction from him. "That only makes me want to be smug more often."
Pausing, I realized he was ri...- |Don't!| He didn't say anything, but he radiated Amusement. I rolled my eyes and let go of his neck, laying my head back on his chest. We finished talking about everything, so now I didn't know what to do. (They forgot about the Apathy thing. Taylor because of everything else, and Phoenix because it's just a thing that happened.)
"Movies and cuddling?" Nevermind, I knew what we were doing now.
He snorted, and I snickered.
We'd have a bunch of things to do, get used to the new change, take time to talk about the things we brought up later so we could do our best to get over it, plan about the whole thing with Panacea, and eventually our date.
But that could come later.
It was our time now.
This'll be the start of things getting better after all the worse that's happened.