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“Mhm,” Aava says. “And I’m in here with you. And I don’t know you that well, but you did just insinuate that the worst part of being trapped in an elevator with no food or water is the fact that I’m in here with you, so that’s pretty hurtful.” (Campaign modern AU, 1.8k)
AUcember || read on ao3
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“Well,” Aava says. “This isn’t ideal.”
“Not Ideal?” Leenik repeats, and, okay, it’s a little shrill. He can admit to himself that it’s a little shrill. “We’re going to be trapped in here for the rest of our lives-”
“They said two hours, tops.”
“With no food, no water-”
Aava pulls a water bottle out of her terrifyingly large purse. “Do you want to keep going?”
“And I’m in here with you, ” Leenik says, which isn’t a very nice trump card, but he’s pretty sure it is a trump card.
“Mhm,” Aava says. “And I’m in here with you. And I don’t know you that well, but you did just insinuate that the worst part of being trapped in an elevator with no food or water is the fact that I’m in here with you, so that’s pretty hurtful.”
Leenik deflates a little with that. It’s not like he knows Aava especially well, so maybe that was unwarranted on his end. A lot of what he knows about her is limited to what Tryst sort-of-sarcastically calls The Bad Month. Grizelle had died, Aava had nearly gotten custody of Tamlin because she’s the most terrifyingly competent lawyer in the world, Tryst’s dad had died, Leenik lost his hand, and Bacta’s whole thing with Sian and the private detectives and all that had started up. It’s been a while since The Bad Month, but every time Leenik looks at Aava he feels a little nauseous anyways. Negative associations, or something.
Aava must know that he doesn’t have a great answer for that - at least, one that isn’t an apology, which he’s not willing to do just yet - because she sighs and takes out her phone. “This is going to ruin my whole fucking day,” she mutters. “Court cases don’t wait for broken elevators.”
“We could climb out,” Leenik offers. “I could give you a boost.”
She snorts. “That sounds almost stupider than the fact that we’re trapped in a courthouse elevator. What are you doing here anyways?”
Leenik has a really great answer for that. His really great answer, which he told Tryst and Bacta and Lyn, is that he’s here to contest a parking ticket. None of them had even questioned it, which is especially great, because Leenik doesn’t own a car. He kind of wonders if that means they weren’t paying attention, but he guesses he should be grateful to get away with it this time.
So Leenik says “I’m here to,” and then stops. Because the words are stuck in his throat, wedged sideways.
Aava’s eyes flick up to him from her phone, looking irritated. “You’re here to-”
“Because the guy who got my brother killed has a parole hearing and I’m maybe going to go testify against a mob boss,” Leenik says, all in a rush, before clapping his hand over his mouth. “Oh my god. Oh my god, why did I tell you that? Please tell me you’re not here to defend him or-”
“I’m a corporate attorney,” Aava says patiently. Leenik probably knew that at some point. The Bad Month involved a lot of intense opposition research, which was how Tryst met Lyn, or something. That whole bit is still fuzzy to Leenik. The Bad Month was bad for everyone. Including Aava. Aava, the corporate lawyer, who is impeccably dressed and looking very patiently at Leenik. “So you’re here for the hearing?”
“I don’t know.” Leenik grabs the handrail, suddenly feeling a little lightheaded. He goes to brace it with his other hand, except it turns out, what do you know, he’s still missing a hand, and his prosthetic is broken. He feels off balance, in more ways than one. “It- I’m going to miss it, aren’t I? If I’m in here?”
“Hey,” Aava says. She’s a lot closer than she was a second ago, hands hovering just by Leenik’s shoulders. “Do you need to sit down?”
Leenik gulps in a breath of air and nods. Sitting sounds good. Or, well, fainting while sitting sounds better than fainting while standing.
“Okay. I’m going to touch you now.” Aava’s hands lands on Leenik’s shoulders, feather light. “C’mon, buddy, let’s get you on the floor.”
He lets her maneuver them until they’re sitting, with Leenik’s head buried between his knees. He lets out a slow, deep breath. “I hate today,” he says, and it bounces around the elevator, which kind of sucks. It’s like being surrounded by himself, which is bad enough, but it’s him and Aava and his bad mood, and that’s kind of worse, actually.
“I’m also not a fan,” Aava says, with a little sardonic lilt to her voice. Leenik snorts out a laugh. He always kind of thought Aava was funny, which is the kind of thing you’re not supposed to think about the woman who’s trying to take your nephew away. He’s pretty sure he’s supposed to hate her, but she is making it really, really hard. “Breathe, Leenik.”
“Okay,” Leenik says, and then waits for his body to breathe. It’s not doing it that great.
Aava sighs. “With me,” she says, and takes a deep, dramatic breath. Leenik instinctively takes a deep breath, and then lets it out as Aava does. “Again,” she says, and he follows her for a few more breaths.
His phone buzzes, and he glances at it and groans. “I think my cover story is blown.”
“Cover story?” Aava repeats. “You mean the thing about your brother wasn’t real?”
“No, that’s the real story. But I told Bacta I was here to contest a parking ticket.”
“I didn’t know you have a car.” She frowns. “Why did I figure that out before he did?”
“Because he’s taking care of Tamlin and his own stuff,” Leenik mutters. He’s not about to tell Aava that it turns out that the love of Bacta’s life might not be dead, or that Bacta is going out of his mind trying to track her down. “Is it weird if I talk about Tamlin?”
“It’s only weird if you don’t take care of him. Or if you’re a dick about it.” She arches an eyebrow at him. “You planning on being a dick about it?”
“Not really.” He sighs. “I’m sorry I said that thing about it being bad I’m stuck in an elevator with you. It’s probably better having you here than being alone.”
“I’m glad I’m probably better than nothing,” Aava says lightly. Leenik laughs, and one of her hands makes its way to his knee. “You doing okay, bright eyes?”
It’s so… un-Aava, so strange and genuine, that Leenik finds himself saying, “I mean, my brother’s dead.”
“You mentioned.” She leans her head against the elevator wall. “My half-sister’s dead. You knew that part, though.”
“Yeah, I did.” He frowns. “I mean, I guess. I think I forgot to think of you as a person.”
Aava makes a strange noise. “Excuse me?”
“Not in a bad way.” Leenik pauses and replays what he just said. “I mean, okay, maybe a little bit in a bad way. All we knew was you were challenging us for custody of a kid you hadn’t seen in years, so it was really easy to think of you as some wicked witch or something. Tryst had to keep reminding me and Bacta that you and Grizelle were sisters.”
“Tryst and I are still in touch,” Aava says. She’s watching him. “We hook up sometimes.”
“I know about a lot of the people Tryst hooks up with,” Leenik admits. “He’s not great at… not sharing that.”
“That’s not surprising.”
“No, not at all. But I knew you guys are friends or whatever.”
“Friends or whatever,” Aava repeats softly. “Well, I’m glad that he… you know.”
“Thinks of you as a person?” Leenik doesn’t smile, he doesn’t think he could, but he kind of wants to. That’s the Tryst Valentine effect. “Yeah, he’s good at that.”
“How did your brother die?”
“It’s a long story.”
“We have a couple hours.”
“I don’t know you that well,” Leenik says, because he might as well make sure all of his cards are on the table before he launches into the story the way he wants to. “And I feel a little weird about doing this a few months after everything went down, and you can’t tell Bacta or Tryst because they don’t know.”
“They don’t know your brother died?”
“They don’t know I had a brother.”
Aava makes a soft noise, which Leenik can’t identify as sympathy or surprise or anything, really, because his heart is racing again and that’s just about all he can focus on. “But you need to talk about it.”
“I kind of think I do.” Leenik fumbles with his phone in one hand. Bacta’s text is still there, and he’s going to have to deal with that. And he’s definitely going to miss the hearing, and Aava’s going to miss- what’s Aava going to miss? “You’re late for work, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am.”
“That sucks.”
“It does. Are you deflecting?”
“No,” Leenik says, and turns to study her face. Her eyes are closed, but she cracks one open to look at him. She looks peaceful, with her knees tucked up to her chest and elbows resting on top of them. She’s wearing a suit, and a nice one at that, but she looks totally unbothered about sitting on the floor of an elevator. And she looks like she’s listening to Leenik. It’s kind of nice, actually. “I’m just trying to make sure I’m thinking of you as a person this time.”
Aava lets out a little hmph of laughter and closes her open eye. “I appreciate that,” she says, and it’s all sardonic and cool, but he can hear something real underneath it. Like she actually appreciates it.
“Are you sure you want to hear this?” Leenik asks, just to be sure.
“What else am I supposed to listen to?”
“We could play music or something.”
“I need my phone to be ready for incoming calls or anything.”
“Because of lawyer emergencies?”
“Because it makes me anxious to be caught off guard in a situation like this. I’d prefer to talk.”
Leenik drums his fingers on the floor beside him. “Thank you.”
“Of course,” Aava says, like it’s nothing. And Leenik loves Tryst and Bacta, he really does, but they’re not… listeners. Not the way that Aava is listening to him right now. It feels kind of nice. He’s going to have to keep this in mind.
Leenik takes a deep breath and nods to himself. They’re going to be in this elevator for a while, but it’s a long story. He needs to get started. “Let me tell you about Venton,” he says, and for the first time in years, it feels a little less like something is squeezing his chest. It feels like he can breathe a little easier.
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