#obscurart

[antielevator]

@obscurart // plotted starter.

"I remember Mr. Valentini's friends, Dad," Lily says, looking at him in the mirror as Sebastian brushes her hair. "They were really scary..." Her lip quivers some as she says it, but then goes firm once more as she does her best to be brave. "But if you say they're gonna be nice to me, then... then it's okay."

"They get excited, that's all," Sebastian says, placing clips in to hold her bangs out of her face. "I promise-- they're gonna protect you while we find the bad man that made Union like this."

"And then things'll be normal again?" Lily murmurs.

"And then things'll be normal again," Sebastian agrees, dipping his head to kiss the top of her hair once it's all fixed. "Or at least less scary."

Hopping off her chair, Lily straightens her dress, then takes Sebastian's hand in her little one. "I'd like that."

"Me too." He squeezes Lily's hand gently. "You ready to go?"

With his daughter's nod of approval, Sebastian takes her out of her bedroom and down the stairs of the house. Stefano ought to be in the backyard with his girls, and the thought that this is the most fucked up playdate he's ever taken his daughter to comes to mind without warning. Sebastian would snort if he wasn't trying to be positive for her sake.

"Hey, Stefano," Sebastian calls as he pushes the door to the backyard open, "everything good out here?"

[antielevator-a]

@obscurart​ sent: " i love it when you smile! i wish you'd do it all the time... " (Because it’s such a Stef thing to say. Guessing this is post Lily returning Stef’s heart to himself through the mutual respect of art 😔) ► from this meme.

“You say that like I never do it,” Sebastian says.

While frowning.

[antielevator]

Sebastian is so used to being the one that charges headfirst that Stefano's attempt to take a hit for him stuns him. The shock lasts only a moment, but that had been enough-- in his inability to move, the Lost had dug its teeth into Stefano's shoulder and pulled. The sight of it was sickening: the skin, the muscle, the gush of blood, but even before any of it had fallen to the road, Sebastian had come forward to stab the creature in the skull.

It falls, of course, with the way the knife passes through bone and brain. Sebastian grabs its corpse before it collapses on Stefano's fallen form, then throws it bodily aside (he fails to notice that he throws it a little too far, and a little too strong to be normal).

"What the fuck," is the first thing he says, pressing his palm to Stefano's shoulder and another against the artery on his arm. He isn't bleeding exaggeratedly, thank God (thank God?), but it's enough to be worried (worried?).

"Why did you take that for me?" Never mind the fact they'd been surrounded. Never mind the fact that Sebastian had just fended off two at a time and didn't see the third coming for him.

"We gotta move."

He has enough in his pack to wrap cloth around Stefano's wound for pressure, but Sebastian takes him to a nearby information centre nevertheless. It's here that he sets Stefano down on a cushioned couch, scouring the area for the inevitable emergency first-aid kit and bringing that back with him. Once he gets Stefano's shirt off, Sebastian starts work on him methodically, calm despite the ugliness of the wound.

That's when Stefano speaks, quiet and soft--

❝ there’s no touch that feels like yours. ❞ ( x )

And Sebastian, lifting his head to meet @obscurart's visible eye, mutters a dry, "If you wanted that you could've come up with a better plan than this one."

Still, a bloody knuckle taps at the corner of Stefano's jaw in something like appreciation. Sebastian almost smiles, even, if not for the furrow of his brows.

"Don't move too much. I gotta stitch you up."

[lobotomeye]

@obscurart​ sent in:  "given your history, i should have known better."

A low hum came from the back of his throat as he carefully studied the artist standing before him. Ruvik knew better than to step out of the shadows, yet he wasn’t too keen on how he was handling Sebastian. “And what is it that you know?” He said, his head tilting.

Ruvik knew almost every person with a working brain had heard of the stories, but the thought of it made him sick. His history had always been more open than he had wanted it to be. Mobius didn’t make it any better with all of his information scattered through STEM.

Stefano was creative and spontaneous, something he lacked. Perhaps it was the jealousy that was the root of the first impression. 

“Please, enlighten me.”