A Soft Morning
Named Sidestep (Carrie)/Wei Chen (Steel)/Named Sidestep (Marco). SFW. 845 words. Contains some slight spoilers from book 2! Catch it on AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18069218
Marco belongs to @ratastrofiend !!! Go check him out, he has really awesome art and his characters are,,,, oof.
Marco and Carrie spend some time talking while waiting for Chen to wake.
It's mostly quiet in my apartment. With the light of dawn just beginning to peek through and color the sky a mix of dark pinks and purples, Marco and Chen are still asleep. Too many nightmares made me creep from our bed around an hour ago, looking for some relief in a cup of coffee and peering out the living room window, watching the world slowly scitter to life below. It's ironic to be here, in this nice, almost posh apartment when only one street down houses my fake store and real home. But only Marco knows about that.
“I thought I felt you get up earlier.” My head swivels around and I see Marco exiting the hallway leading from the bedroom and bathroom, still dressed in one of Chen’s t-shirts and a pair of boxers, mirroring me. A soft smile pulls at his lips as he starts to walk towards me.
“Yeah, I couldn't sleep. What're you doing up?” He awkwardly settles into the chair across from me, one of his pale arms laying across the thick glass top of the table to balance him. Without thinking about it, my hand near immediately reaches over to intertwine with one of his, bringing a soft laugh from him. I'd like to think my face didn't turn blood red from it.
“Without weight on his other side, Chen tried to roll over. Didn't go so well.” He takes a sip of my coffee before cracking the window some and reaching for where his cigarettes lay partially hidden by the newspapers on the window sill.
“Legs?”
“Legs.” We both laugh, mine being a little breathless from the little bolts shooting through my arm as he rubs his thumb over mine. His touches always do that, for some damned reason. He taps a cigarette out, regulars, pulls it between his lips, then tosses the pack back on top of the yellowing papers to reach for his lighter. After he lights it, the room goes quiet again, but not silent. The early morning traffic are finally appearing, and I can hear him as he takes drags on his cigarette.
My eyes are busy looking over his slowly filling out body. It wasn't that visible till he sat down, but now that the warm wind filtering in through the window blows Chen’s snatched shirt against his frame, I can see where his ribs have become less visible, his body finally trying to make a resurgence to some semblance of healthy with mine and Chen’s help. I had noticed it last night, but hadn't given it much thought, my hands were too busy… No, I shouldn't be thinking of that so early in the morning-
“Your hands were too busy what?” My eyes snap up from their observing of his waist to his lone green eye. There's warmth and a sparkle of mischief waiting for me there, as well as him lightly biting the inside of his lower lip to try to keep his smile from widening. A mental hand lightly runs over my mind as my thoughts scramble and my face heats up.
“Uh-hm, they were… Um…” He lightly squeezes my hand, no doubt hearing the scrambling my mind is doing. As if to tease further, he openly shares a small piece of his memories, of the sensation of my hands running over his chest, his stomach, lower…
“You're turning red, Carrie.” He snubs out his cigarette in the small glass dolphin ashtray in the center of the table, then reaches over to tuck one of my out of place short brown curls behind my right ear. I turn my head and lightly kiss his palm, earning his fingers trailing across my cheek gently. As his hand reaches his side of the table again, we both look towards the bedroom as soft taps begin making their way towards the living room. Spoon emerges a few minutes later, shaking his entire body free of sleep. His nails softly scratch across the hardwood floor as he stretches, letting out a whine as he does so. I laugh before turning back to Marco, who's doing the same.
“Do you want to walk him while I make breakfast?”
“Hmm.” He hums softly, looking between me and Spoon, then bending to pet him as he comes over for love. “We could both walk him and I can try to help you cook when we get back. Chen probably will be up by the time we get back.”
“Mmm, sounds better than my idea.” I stand quicker than he does, mainly to give him a peck on the forehead, over his good eye. He smiles as he fully stands, his gangly legs in all their glory. He puts his hand on my lower back as we quietly make our way to the bedroom to put on some pants and to grab Spoon’s leash. And take the risk of waking Chen by kissing him before we leave.
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