driftfleet | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who: Erik, Charles, Hank and Raven
Broadcast: nah
Action: the Blameless. warning for injury treatment, probably.
When: June 7th, shortly after this

[This is the second time in the span of seven days that Erik has had to pilot a shuttle while his vision isn't a hundred percent. It's almost a pattern, he thinks blearily to himself. Different causes, though. As the shuttle docks with the Blameless, he can't help but blow out a breath.

First step done. Now to get out.]

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Please don't bring Erik into this when we're talking about me being a pillow.

[just . . . no.

He still has concerns and worries, both as a doctor and because he worries regardless, but it's easy enough to push them aside and focus more on Raven, focus on better things like what they were going to do for Erik and Charles, or just helping her calm down and relax. It was better than letting himself dwell on things, especially when he was planning on doing all of that later, when he had his own bit of privacy to air out the feelings that just won't go away with talking.

He laughs a bit, a faint huff of noise] I can imagine. Especially considering I don't think I even slept while writing mine.

I suppose neither of you would appreciate the situation.

[ At least they're able to laugh now, which means something. Not too long ago Raven was sure she was going to break, was absolutely certain that she was going to end up losing her mind, and somehow she had been brought back. Somehow, Hank had wrapped himself around her and saved her from the disaster of her own mind - at least for now. It was all on pause and she felt better about it, felt calmer, and she could breathe. It might not ever all be okay, it might never all be better, but at least they were getting there. At least they were proving their strength, on becoming something that no one could take down.

Shaking her head, she leans back and presses a careful little kiss against the tip of his nose. ]

I hope you know I'll never let anything like that happen again.

It would be incredibly awkward and we'd bicker the whole time.

[and, after a considering pause] We had to share a blanket once.

[it had been for a quest, if he remembers correctly, right in the middle of Charles' terrible quest. He won't mention those details, of course - not his place, and he was trying to keep everything lighter, now. Silly mentions like that were fair game.

He wrinkles his nose at the kiss, then huffs out a noise, lips quirking]

What, a thesis? I had no plans on writing another one.

Really? How did that go?

[ Raven doesn't press for too many details - a lot of the time that the three of them spent together in the other world wasn't exactly pleasant, and she knows that. She knows that it isn't good, or safe, and it's not something any of them want to talk about (even if Erik pushed her to ask question after question that would near enough break her heart) but all the tidbits she learns are enough for her, at least for now. She doesn't want to ask for too much.

Instead, she draws herself closer, kissing him gently, closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against Hank's.

Caring hurts, she knows, and caring for Hank - it's a good kind of hurt, one that makes her feel a little bit alive, and she has to breathe in and breathe out to make sure she doesn't lose herself in it. ]

No, staying up for hours and hours. I get lonely, you know.

It wasn't too bad. It was for a quest he was doing - and it was only five minutes.

[if she wanted him to, he'd tell her all the details she wanted to hear - and all the details he thought he could tell her. Of the three, he had the easiest time, especially considering he hadn't gone to the world before Kyriakos. All of his experiences had been there. It hadn't been all sunshine and rainbows, though, and the parallels he was making earlier spring back to mind, the terrible games in which he came out feeling helpless and on the urge of breaking, only to shove it aside for everyone else.

He'd fine-tuned that particular "skill" there; he'd had no choice.

Huffing a little, he shuts his eyes and tightens his arms a little around her]

You've been making sure I don't do that.

Five minutes is tolerable, then.

[ There's no need to push for more right now - it's the same as it was with Charles, she thinks. She knew where he was talking about, what place would have urged him to share something with Erik, and now isn't the time. Raven knows that both of them - all three of them, really - would tell her things once she asked, but right now... None of them could shoulder it. Right now they needed to relax, to give themselves a few moments to actually come to terms with what's happened today, and thinking about the cruelties of their history wouldn't help them at all. It would just exhaust them more, and Raven wants to avoid that for as long as possible.

Instead, she focusses on touching him, leaning into his embrace and feeling the tightness of his arms, basking in it without hesitation.

This is where she's meant to be, she thinks, quietly to herself. Here, with her boys, with her boyfriend and her brother and her friend, helping them, supporting them, loving them. There's nowhere else she would ever want to be, and she's sure of it.

Smile soft, she kisses him again, unable to resist. ]

Someone has to take care of you, you know.

Mm, we talked the whole time. [dryly] It was warm.

[it's probably for the best, to leave it for a time where they weren't already so worn down. Where he could be ready to comfort her if she got upset, and not get as upset himself. With Kyriakos came both good and bad memories, and the good ones hurt in a bittersweet sort of way - he didn't miss the place and never would, but the people? Especially two girls who he considered family? Talking about them made his heart ache and reminded him that he still had to find a way back, to get them out. Either that or find a way to the one's world to rescue her from an apocalyptic backdrop. Even thinking about them makes him ache, and he has to faintly shake his head to clear his mind.

He rests his head against hers and makes a faint noise, amused but trying not to be. She did take care of him, more than he was used to. Back home, he was scolded now and then for falling asleep in the lab but for the most part, he was left to all of his bad habits]

Is that part of the girlfriend agreement too?

It must have been a magical moment for the both of you.

[ It's easier to tease than it is to ask questions, to push and prod at sore wounds she's not sure about. It's bad enough with Charles where they're prone to bicker and argue a little more than most, given their tangled and messed up history, but it feels like cruelty to do it to Hank, to say something or suggest something that might end up reminding him of something he would rather forget. It's not as if she's being careful, not really, but she is watching her words, waiting for the right time to ask about it all, to discover everything that happened.

Besides, there are some things she thinks she doesn't want to know the answers to.

They're pressed close together right now and, of course, there's not much she enjoys more on the Atroma. She could spend her days curled up with Hank, just talking to him, being around him, and she would be happy to do it - she is happy, being in his arms and feeling him around her, basking in having him at her side. ]

It is. It's the boyfriend agreement too, just in case I need to be taken care of.

[ Which won't happen, considering she never admits her problems, but still. ]

Something like that.

[it had been before they'd remember most of the drama in their world, Cuba barely even mentioned. It had worked in their favor, of course; if Hank had remembered things differently, he doubts he would be looking at Erik the same way he did now - as a friend and ally, as opposed to however he viewed him before that. Hell, even his views on Charles changed. He certainly didn't miss the place, but the simplicity of some of it - their world's worries distant and as faded as their memories . . . he did miss that. It didn't make it easier, not when the realm they were in was dangerous on a weekly basis, but -

He stops the thought there. One day, he could explain that much to her. When she was ready and finally asked, and he was ready to sit down and tell her. On her terms, not his, because if she was waiting for him she'd be waiting a long time. If only because he knew how much of it would upset her.

So instead he focuses on her leaning against him, the way her hair tickles his cheek and he sighs out, exhausted but content. For now]

I don't need an agreement to do that. I've been doing it.

[he doesn't need her to speak up for him to realize when something's wrong, after all]

[ I've been doing it - and she knows he has.

The thing is that, more often than not, Raven knows she doesn't quite realise when someone is taking care of her. It's little things that go unnoticed, like the things she realised once she was away from Charles. He used to make sure she had breakfast in the morning, and he would make sure they always spoke before bed, especially if they were angry. He would never really argue when she needed to drape on him and he abandoned so many nights out and chances with particular dates because she wanted to go or because she was upset. He did dozens of things that made her feel special and when it was gone... She realised that she had taken advantage of his love for her, sometimes.

She doesn't want that to happen with Hank.

Careful, she tilts her head up and brushes their mouths together again, her fingers stroking over his cheek, thumb pressing into the corner of his mouth where his smile would curve before she tilts her head back and breathes out. When she opens her eyes again her expression is soft, and vulnerable, and she doesn't want to think about what it means because she's already admitted so much - too much. ]

I know. [ She would make a joke about not being blind, but - ] And it's - it means a lot to me, Hank.

[he might not be good when it comes to words, to expressing how he feels without flustering or getting too upset, but he knows how to take care of people. Charles back home, and to an extent both him and Erik in Kyriakos, as well as his team. Sure, it wore him down and stressed him out, but that was his choice. He didn't have to, but he wanted to. Because there was so much he couldn't do that he was left with that, taking care of the people who mattered to him. And he just never stopped - there was no reason to, even if when it came to certain people, it changed when he got home.

No one could take that away, and no one could stop it. It was something that didn't require all the things he was bad at, and even if it was just making sure they knew he would, that was enough. Just like Charles, like Erik, like Raven, family was incredibly important to him.

You can't take advantage of something when he gives it so freely.

They've both admitted things and his eyes search her expression, head tilting just a little into her hand. They've both said the words but even then it wasn't enough, and he wonders if she realizes that. He does, sometimes. Like now, as he watches her with such an open expression it makes him warm all over]

I know. I'll always take care of you.

[even if this didn't work out, even if she left and never came back, that wouldn't change. She was as much his family as any of the others, and he'd take care of her no matter what]

Hank.

[ Sometimes, more often than not, really, she wonders how she came to deserve him. There's no way she would ever be good enough for someone like Hank, someone as kind and generous and sweet, and she feels out of place, as if she's trying to earn the relationship they've embarked on together. She knows, really, that's not how it works, not at all, and she feels ridiculous for thinking it, because it's not how it's meant to be. She shouldn't feel indebted to Hank because he cares about her, because he loves her, but she still cherishes it a little more than perhaps she ought to - still gives herself over to it a little more than she should have, because it feels like it's too good to be true.

Leaning up, she wraps an arm around his neck and kisses him, slowly and gently, not intending for it to go anywhere. It's just a kiss, but she offers herself freely, without hesitation, drawing him against her body and pushing her own close. There's nothing more to it than what it is - a kiss, plain and simple, her eyes closing as she basks in being this close, and when she draws back she knows there's something soft and gentle in her expression, speaking in silence what she has already given him aloud; proof of her love for him, something she can't take back and doesn't want to.

Pressing her forehead against his, Raven breathes out, soft and uncertain for a moment. ]

Thank you.

[ What else can she say? Always is a long, long time, and even if it isn't forever it still means something to her, the Raven that has been alone for so long and afraid for longer, really. ]

[he feels the same way, honestly, like he doesn't deserve her and yet here she is, close enough that he can say these silly little earnest things to her. That he can make up for ten years of nothing and a fateful night one moment at a time, show her he cares, that he loves her in so many ways that those three little words, despite hearing them minutes ago, aren't really necessary. It felt too good to be true when they first met - Raven was beautiful and he was this nerdy little scientist, and he could never understand what she saw in him, even with their shared feelings on their mutation, and even now he sometimes falls back on that. How could this brave, strong woman who saved the president ever feel the way she does for him, a man who hid away for years because he could no longer stand the world? She could have anyone she wants, he thinks, and yet she's chosen him again.

They're both too tired for the kiss to be anything more than that but he returns it just as gently, fingers tangling again in her hair. For all that the day has stressed them out, for all that they've stood everything thrown at them, he knows they both needed this. This quiet moment to find themselves again, to depend on each other to strengthen themselves before they head back in there and are reminded of what happened.

He doesn't say anything, he just lifts his free hand to push some hair out of her face and press a kiss to her forehead]

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