It was harder to see her true expression through the eyeholes of his mask but he knew her well enough at this point to know she was happy. Actually happy - not the kind of happy people pretended to be when something was deeply bothering them.
Lei had plenty to be bothered by. They were fresh off a raid which involved Widget having to ask twice - and ask was a loose term, at that. Thankfully, he never had to ask more than twice.
Widget snorted at her giggle. It was hard not to be amused. Tiny girl high off of adrenaline in his lap, giggling and clutching at her bloodied mask. He would have been concerned - no, he should have been concerned. Except he knew what she needed after the harrowing events of her past. And sometimes that involved letting her have control. He’d let her hold the gun. Not fire it, but…. hold it once he’d gotten his point across and his victim was lying bloody on the ground and his victim’s friends had their wide and terrified eyes on Lei, not daring to move.
His hand stroked over her hairline at her temple and towards the mask askew on her face, trailing a streak of red across the porcelain. “Pet pet pet.”
She had replaced one addiction with the other. Lei was a year clean from the crap that she had filled her veins with, but now -- she was addicted to the adrenaline rush of the raids. Hurting others wasn’t something that she could stomach -- but the thrill of the raid? Yes. Lei did enjoy holding the gun. It made her feel powerful. It made her feel as if she could defend Widget or the others. It made her feel more useful on raids. She was more than some weak arm piece.
They were back in the safety of the rover, but her heart was still pounding. Her giggles were bubbly, infectious -- and they seemed to known no end. Deep down, she knew she needed that closeness to Widget, laying her head down in his lap. Her eyes closed, opening just a second later when she felt his fingers against her mask. Lei reached up, pulling the porcelain away so that he could see her eyes.
His response to her made her giggle even more. She turned, lifting his shirt so that she could place a kiss against his abs. “I like watching you in control...”
( @revivedrust - For the boys and Phoe. A drabble of sorts. Blanket warning for those not familiar with this verse - cancer mentions, death, and drug abuse.)
You might wonder how a girl could fall in love with a group of people as insane as the Rust – how she could find herself in this chaos, pulling her soul back from the brink of oblivion. It’s as simple and as complex as the fact that I fell in love with a boy.
Aaron was sick when I met him. My grandmother was a patient in the same treatment center as him. Cancer is a fucked up disease, and it is one that ruined parts of my life, while bringing me other good things. I would find love in those days and nights that I spent there visiting my grandmother, Aaron, and the other kids. You’ll hear more about one special one later. I lost my grandmother. The cancer got her, as we knew it would. She knew it, but she remained strong until her last moment. That was when the world changed. It grew darker for me, as my parents saw fit to rip me from the last lifeline I had – Aaron.
For a year, my life was the story of an after school special. My parents had thrown me out. I was on my own, and I turned to the wrong things to survive. There is nothing about living in surviving, and it was that which nearly killed me. I can’t, and won’t, write about those things there. No love was found in that year – no, I’m wrong. There was love. The love of an adorable grey pit bull puppy that was as lost as I was. Sprocket became a new life line, one that kept me together until fate saw fit to have my path cross with Aaron’s again, with Widget’s.
He would save me, from myself and the demons, literal and figurative, that had me captive. I won’t be as stupid as to believe that love was the magical cure all. I know it wasn’t, but it was a support, a grounding, that I could lean on in those hard nights. The nights were drugs or a bullet sounded a lot simpler than the pain of withdrawals. It would be those nights that I would come to meet Mako Shark, and that’s where this story gets really interesting.
Mako was a friend that Widget had come across in the year that we were apart. That Shark was unlike anything that I had ever known in my life, but in the same sense, I could understand him. We would talk about plants, healing, and other randomness. Above all, Mako listened. He didn’t judge me, and he sure as fuck never coddled me. He told me it straight, and he protected me through thick and thin. The love that I have for him is one of a big brother, of someone that will take all the pain with all the good. I knew that I could lose my shit around him, and he would hold me together. Yes, I had that with Widget, but it was something different. It was for the worries that couldn’t reach Widget’s ears, and it was for the days that inched along when Widget was gone.
The next person in this tale is the one I alluded to earlier, a fellow patient – Jesse. Now, don’t go calling him that. He’ll likely punch you. Call him Topaz, but he is my best friend. I love him dearly, and I’ve seen him through a lot. He puts on this tough face, and he worries, but he is good. He will do anything to protect those that can’t protect themselves. Topaz might be, no – wait, he is shit when it comes to expressing his emotions in words; but you know when he cares for you. He’ll make sure you are okay, he’ll check on you, and without fail, he’ll be there. Many a night that meant holding me as I slept after Widget died, making sure I ate – even showing me his prized DVDs. It’s the small things with Topaz, no matter what he might tell you other wise.
Merle came along sometime after Widget and Topaz found me. I don’t really remember, so I’m thinking he was somewhere in that span of time that is foggy still in my brain. I do know that Merle is not what everyone sees. Most only see a many that shares his bed every single night with someone. Now, he has Rassie, but even then, those two often have company. I have been that company one night, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Merle loves everyone that he meets. He truly cares for them. You don’t take photos of people that you want to forget – people that are nothing but a warm body. If you want to think that of Merle, then you’ll have me to answer to. Unlike Mako, Merle might sugar coat things, but he does it from a place of protection. I know that he has hidden things from me, but I also know why. He is my fabulous bestie, with the gorgeous hair, and I love him very, very much. In the weeks and months after Widget’s death, he helped me to realize that I couldn’t keep living for the past. I had to live for me. Some might see that night as wrong, but trust me, it wasn’t. I don’t think so, and neither do they. Neither does Widget.
Now, speaking of that man, Aaron, or as most know him, Widget, is the man that I love. I loved him when he was sick, when I knew that one day he would die. I loved him after he died, carrying on our lives – my life. I could have left the Rust the day that Widget died, and no one would have questioned it. Even Topaz. Yes, they would have worried, but they would have understood. I stayed because the Rust was part of me – it was our family. Death didn’t end that, nor the love that encompassed it. Widget’s death shook everyone. Yes, cancer can be a certain thing, and life has a certain end; however, it doesn’t mean that you are really prepared for it. Not totally.
I got him back, but it wasn’t him. Not fully. I had to make an entirely new peace with our situation. The world was changing, and I knew of magic beyond that of Mako’s. To say that it was a mind fuck was a damn understatement, but I had Widget back. I did. I knew part of him loved me, and it was that love that kept him close. It wasn’t until Phoe came that she fixed what was wrong. Widget’s himself, once again. A little wilder, crasser, but it’s Widget. My Widget. The insane, full of the fire that cancer had dampen in him. We have to work to know each other again, anew; but you know what? That love survived. Through all the shit, even through death, the love held true. I’m thankful for that.
I’m just human. I’m surrounded by magical creatures, and things from storybooks and myth that I never believed could be true. I might not have the magic to merge into others, or to steal the moon, but I have the love I feel for them all. I have the love that has forged bonds with Widget, Mako, Merle, Topaz, and Phoe – and even some of the mergs. I have that. If anything, that can be my magic. The ability to love them all – thick or thin, agree or disagree, happiness or pain. Maybe that’s what Mako meant when he told me humans have it best – I can love them for their flaws, love them despite my own flaws, their mistakes…I can look at it all from the outside. That old Shark is always right, now that I think about it.
Some could look at the Rust, and all they see is pain. They are wrong. They will always be wrong. If the pain did one thing, it made me a believer. A believer in things beyond my own sight and knowledge. A believer in the unknown. A believer in love.
‘The dragon’ was too vague at this point - he’d had a lapful of three of them the last time he’d stepped foot into this club. He’d been hoping to findJensen - tonight he required some specifics. And not just for between-the-sheets business.
“Stranger’s not a word I would use between us,” he teased as he sauntered forward, easily invading personal space as he slipped in next to Jensen. Cold fingers along the other’s man’s jawline with a purr, tempted to nip at the flesh and cause some steamy trouble. Merle lofted Jensen’s chin with a sound that bordered on pained. He was restraining himself. “That face kills me. Not here to play sadly. Not yet. Can you get away for a moment? Help me out?”
The night spent with Artsie, Ras, and Merle had been more than enjoyable. He was happy to see Andraste living life -- being human. Even, if that was a funny thought, given that none of them were human. Not even Rassie’s Merle.
Jensen was leaned against the bar in Artsie’s club. He always stayed close with her. They had been through a lot, which solidified their connection centuries ago.
There was a smirk on the dragon’s face when Merle found his way back to the club, eyes finding the other’s when his head was tilted upwards. Jensen was about to smart off, but the words that followed alarmed him a little. “Is Andraste okay? Are you?” He asked, leaving his drink on the bar then. “We can go upstairs and talk.”
Etain raised a brow, unable to help herself. The situation at hand was not the best, but well, to be honest, she’d been in worse and always held her own. What made this different? She slid out of the trunk and let out a dark chuckle.
“So, what’s the bloody flippin’ deal with all this? I hope you don’t expect me to stand here and not fight back, because darlin’, that’s just not my style.” The redhead grinned then. “I’m capable of a lot more than one would think.”
Leave a “Paint Me” in my ask, and I’ll write a drabble about my character drawing a picture of yours [like one of your french girls~ be it painting them or drawing them, maybe offering a picture of them as a gift, feel free to specify.]
( @revivedrust - I’m sorry. So sorry. LOL)
She had asked Merle to help her find the supplies that sheneeded. Leiella trusted Mako, but sheknew that Merle understood the artistic side of life more. Both men had been keeping an eye on heranyway, so when she made a request to go on a run, Merle took up the charge ofgoing with her. It took them more thanone run over the span of a few weeks to find what she needed. The runs were a needed and wanted distractionfor the petite artist.
Lei had parked the rover away from the others. For once, no one questioned her. No one checked on her, though she could feelMako’s eyes on her. Sprocket stayedclose – the pit bull snoring at her feet as she got to work. Aaron would have never allowed her to painthe rover. Part of her felt bad fordoing something she knew he would grumble at her for, but he wasn’t thereanymore to do that.
He wasn’t there.
She had been sketching the small grouping of gears and toolsfor nearly a week. It had to beperfect. It had to be. There was no other option when it came tothat piece of art. Leiella had begunwork early that morning, losing track of time. Even after she finished, she stayed sitting there, tears falling fromher eyes as she looked at the completed work – a gathering of gears linkedtogether, with a butterfly resting on top of them. It was a strange pairing, but that was herand Widget, her and Aaron.
Lei didn’t startle as two bodies settled on either side ofher. Mako and Merle. It was strange to have them close to eachother without a single word of sass spoken, but even they were quiet. Mako wrapped his arm around Lei, and shestopped trying to hide the tears that had been threatening since Aaron haddied. Even Merle, for all his wildness,understood emotion better than most of them. It was his hand that came to rest at Leiella’s back, fingers lightlyrunning through her hair.
They stayed with her until sleep took her away. Mako lifted her into his arms, tucking herinto the bed at the back of the rover. Merle stayed watch that night, because even with Widget gone, Lei wasstill proctected.
