MHA #7 | Monday Morning

[flourish_or_perish]

So, Faye had spent a weekend in space.

She'd hopped from Mars to Ganymede and back again, looking for something that would make all of this feel better and -- unsurprisingly -- coming up empty.

Didn't mean she didn't try, though. Even if it did mean that 'trying' had looked like getting absolutely shitfaced and sleeping in her ship.

Monday morning found her winding her way through Fandom, still a little wobbly on her feet. Given how few unfamiliar faces she encountered as she stumbled her way towards her own apartment, she was fairly confident that whatever the hell had happened, it was over, now. Over enough that she could go back to her own apartment without worry of running into anyone. Especially if she was sneaky about it.

Granted, 'sneaky' and 'still drunk' did not go together great, so she was certainly not being quiet as she tried to fish out her keys from her pocket to get in. The fact that she was holding a flask in one hand and had a lit cigarette dangling from her mouth probably didn't help any, but you know what, Faye was in too much personal pain to pick a lane right now, thanks. Rude of you to ask, narrative.


[for one specifically but it's not like they're the only ones who live in the building if you want to object to the noise or the indoor smoking.]

Comments

[stykera]

Don't worry, Faye. Stark wasn't going to tell anyone about the crying.

He was going to wrap his arm around her, perhaps a little more tightly than was strictly necessary.

"You deserve someone being nice to you," he whispered. "And I want to do it."

[flourish_or_perish]

She wasn't going to argue, even if she felt like she probably didn't really deserve this kind of niceness. (Even Whitney hadn't been nice to her like this, but then, things with Whitney had been brief and intense and there had been very little opportunity for him to know her, all things considered.)

"Why?" she sniffled, needing to know but also totally unsure of the answer. "I'm not even nice to me."

Perhaps he had noticed?

[stykera]

Stark had noticed. Somehow.

"I want to," Stark repeated. "I try to be kind, when I can." To most people.

"And...I care. About you. For you. You make me happy, I told you that." He wanted to return the favor. And to make sure she understood how he felt.

[flourish_or_perish]

"But this is hard," Faye pointed out, totally logically. Like, obviously he was going to ditch out when it got hard, right?

Did this maybe say something about Faye? Maybe a lot? Probably.

"This," she added, swiping up at her eyes, "is what I meant about how I'm a mess. All of this." And Zhaan had not seemed messy, like how Faye was.

[stykera]

"I know it's hard," Stark told her. Maybe he could get away with stroking her hair? He was going to try. "I wish it weren't."

"You're allowed to cry, you know. I cry." He'd cried plenty last night even. "And to be a mess. I...I do that too. Not as much as I used to. But I do it."

Zhaan had her own moments of messiness. The occasional murderous rage and all that.

[flourish_or_perish]

Faye took a minute before answering. "You're the only person in my living memory I've let see me cry," she finally said, very softly, as she leaned into that hair-stroking. She was maybe a little touch-starved at the moment, even if -- in true Faye form -- she would argue that she was just fine, thanks. "It's a lot easier to...not."

And that made you very special, Stark.

[stykera]

"Thank you," Stark said quietly. "For trusting me." He did have some idea of how rare that was.

"I won't tell anyone," he promised, continuing to stroke her hair very gently. "Not a soul."