Cal Kestis (
moreofaponchoguy) wrote in
fandomtownies2024-07-09 08:30 am
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Entry tags:
Midnight Manor Rooftop, Tuesday Morning
A while back, Marc had asked Cal to get some speakers set up for the outdoor areas of the manor, and Cal had agreed because it sounded easy.
It had, in fact, turned out to be harder than expected, but Cal was nothing if not stubbornly perseverant.
Between things he'd foraged from the junkyard and the magic of Amazon, Cal had put together four speakers, two for the roof and two for outside the first floor. (If the building grew more floors, well, he'd figure out what to do when the time came.) He had planned on getting things set up over the weekend but... nope, he wasn't going to dwell on what he'd spent his weekend doing instead, and was just going to focus on getting things finished now. Two of the speakers were working just fine and playing one of Cal’s playlists with BD-1's help. He was pretty sure the third speaker just needed some of the wires switched, but the last speaker was proving to be ornery.
“If you don't do what you're supposed to do, I'm going to take you completely apart, put the parts in a jar, shake them, and then put you back together again.”
Was threatening inanimate objects the best way to deal with his feelings? Probably not, but it was happening anyway.
[Open!]
It had, in fact, turned out to be harder than expected, but Cal was nothing if not stubbornly perseverant.
Between things he'd foraged from the junkyard and the magic of Amazon, Cal had put together four speakers, two for the roof and two for outside the first floor. (If the building grew more floors, well, he'd figure out what to do when the time came.) He had planned on getting things set up over the weekend but... nope, he wasn't going to dwell on what he'd spent his weekend doing instead, and was just going to focus on getting things finished now. Two of the speakers were working just fine and playing one of Cal’s playlists with BD-1's help. He was pretty sure the third speaker just needed some of the wires switched, but the last speaker was proving to be ornery.
“If you don't do what you're supposed to do, I'm going to take you completely apart, put the parts in a jar, shake them, and then put you back together again.”
Was threatening inanimate objects the best way to deal with his feelings? Probably not, but it was happening anyway.
[Open!]
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"Because you're dumb," BD-1 said helpfully from Arden's arms.
"I'm not dumb. I didn't want to make things worse," Cal replied. "But it sounds like I failed."
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She sighed, adjusting her grip on BD so she could pinch the bridge of her nose. "Look, Cal, I know you're not really...into...this kind of stuff." And she was very much ignoring all evidence of the contrary from the weekend that suggested he most certainly was interested in it, this weekend had all been lies, anyway. "But like. When you wake up tangled around someone and neither of you are really, um. Dressed. Trying to sneak out is probably a bad idea even if nothing happened." Which it hadn't! To them, anyway. Real them.
"...It's also pretty impossible to do without waking the other person up, as an fyi."
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"Of course! You're not stealthy," BD said with a miserable beep.
Cal sighed and shrank a little. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have left. I... It's not that I'm not into talking about things, I'm just really not good at any of this."
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And had instead just watched the entire process.
"What was there even to say?" she asked with another casual-really-definitely-not-awkward laugh. "Fandom did a weird thing again. It turned everybody's future into a happy fairy tale. Graham was king. Kamala was a major superhero. You had peace. Lydia had five kids." Weird flex, but hey, she was from the olden days, so maybe that was her jam. "I had a family. Just, like. You know. Entwined happily ever afters. I'm sorry you got caught up in mine again."
Enough this this time he'd felt he'd had to put distance between them.
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"No! Stop it! Stop saying sorry!"
"Okay, I don't know why he's being so loud, but I can take him," Cal said, coming over and reaching to take him from her, but BD-1 leaned back against Arden.
"You were happy! You're my best friend. You were happy," BD said. "Tell her you were happy."
"Of course I was happy," Cal said, smiling softly at Arden. "I think we all had pretty great lives, yeah?"
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Just that it wasn't possible in reality.
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"I think I dragged you into my life, remember? We were living in my world, you were part of the war, you had a bounty on your head. I distinctly remember Lydia's anger at me bringing you into space danger." He couldn't help but snicker a little at the idea that she hated him in all distant futures. "Your future was on hold until my world got itself put back together, and that was so unfair to you."
NFB, pls!
She marched forward, closing the distance between them, her finger poking him in the chest. A breeze picked up around them as her eyes sparked gold, and her drawl intensifying with her aggravation. "Do you honestly think you can make me do a damn thing I don't wanna? And put my future on hold? I held a fucking doctorate. I was helping people! Tell me where the pause is there, I fuckin' dare you!"
Re: NFB, pls!
"You were an amazing help, I'm sure. Hearing 'Dr. Kestis' on the radio had me feeling some type of way," he said, holding his ground. "But we hadn't started a family yet, I think? We weren't safe, because of me."
Re: NFB, pls!
Ugh! He was too tall. Without even thinking about it, she solidified a chunk of air and stepped onto it so they could be eye-to-eye. "You keep talking about what you maybe took away from me. Did you, even for like five seconds, think that maybe you're the only thing that made any of that possible?"
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Another moment of fiercely glaring at him and then her brain tapped her on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear.
"...Wait, did you say the best thing in your life?" she asked, belatedly.
Re: NFB, pls!
"Don't. Lie," he beeped sharply.
"Yes, I did say that," Cal said. "Getting to meet you has been one of the best things that's happened to me in years. But I'm so, so scared I'm going to be the thing that ruins you in return."
Re: NFB, pls!
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Re: NFB, pls!
And then she sighed. "Because, Cal. Because I care. I care about the people you're saving. Because I care about your galaxy, and the people you lost. Because I care about you. And because I don't think you'll ever hurt me."
Beat.
"Well, like that anyway."
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Focus, Finch.
"I--I want you to get it that if I'm with you somewhere, even if it's scary and dangerous like your galaxy, even if it's in some kind of happily ever after Fandom thing, it's because I wanna be there," she said. The tenor of their conversation had changed now that she was no longer yelling at him and she wasn't sure why she suddenly felt to off-kilter, like she might fall off her block of air and--wait, she'd made that?
Focus, Finch.
"And to respect that choice, even if you wished I was doing something else. To respect that I did the math in my head and maybe you don't like my choice, but it's my choice to make."
Her fingers came up to hover over his cheek a moment before falling back down. This wasn't that happily after future and she felt weird touching him like she would have then. "And to not just bail on me. You can go if you need to, Cal, but maybe just... don't sneak out like you're ashamed?"
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
"I don't think the me from the weekend really wanted to be in your universe, Cal," she said. "I think she just wanted to be with you. The fact that it was also a place where she could use her powers and not be afraid was just a really big bonus."
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Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
Re: NFB, pls!
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Re: NFB, pls!