I FINALLY BEAT DAD ON MAX EXTREME MEASURES. BEAT HIM UP AND PUMMELED HIM INTO THE GROUND SO FAR HE CPULD SEE HYPNOS SNORING IT UP WITH HOW MUCH I HIT HIM. YIPEEEEEEE
Summary ; " They were outsiders, and they knew that. They didn't try to be something they weren't, they didn't want to have to prove something to someone higher up on the food chain. "
Words ; 1,390
Ships ; Criminicase / Allison Reynolds x Bender
(A03 LINK DOWN BELOW)
September 22nd, 1985.
A dark orange bloomed into the sky as the sun set on that fateful summer evening. The air was still warm but was cooling down as day crept into night. A gentle breeze flowed through the grass, causing ripples and waves to pass through each little blade.
Laying together, Allison Reynolds and John Bender, an unlikely pair, found themselves at ease watching the sky. Allison laid there on that grassy hill, her hands folded and resting on her abdomen, while Bender lay beside her with his arms resting behind his head.
There was a gap between the two of them, nothing terribly uncomfortable or awkward. It was close, however. Something too close for strangers, and a bit closer than expected for friends, but too far for lovers.
Neither of them had any reason to think of what they were. Them, together, never crossed their minds... at least that's what they thought the other one was thinking.
Allison had turned the thought around in her brain for a while. That Saturday detention had really done something to her. Her views were lifted from her feet and forced to see the real world and the other people in it, and the first one she really saw was John Bender.
Her and Andy, as much as she wanted it to, didn't work out. He didn't truly understand the extent of her 'invisibility' and becoming visible in a way that didn't feel like her felt like a crime against her entire being.
After breaking up with him, she went back to comfortable dark shades, vowing to never wear pastels for anyone again.
However, she never quite got over how Bender had treated her. He didn't treat her differently or get under her skin like he did to Claire. He saw her, like really *saw* her. And she saw him back. They were too similar for her interest not to be piqued.
Bender was quite conflicted himself. He was a criminal who knew when to move on when he wasn't wanted. Given, he was usually the one not doing the wanting. He moved on from girls faster than a race horse running from its stall after the horn has been sounded. He was bored often, and he found himself being picky around the people he stuck besides. Allison, however, made all of his usual standards completely disappear. She was a lot like him in the way that she was an outcast, and she acted out too.
Things between him and Claire were.. rough. Yeah, he could easily get what he wanted by being a gentleman, and he served her well when she wanted some extra loving from him, but he knew the truth. Her love felt stagnant, and despite whatever fucking lesson Brian had written down on that paper that day in detention, he knew she didn't learn from it. He knew that she viewed him as grubby criminal with a dad he's going to turn out just like.
Maybe it was the insecurities he wouldn't admit talking, but he couldn't do it anymore. He gave her back her earring, gave her a dry "see ya, sweets," and out the door he went.
She had everything he never had and would never have. He didn't want to look like some junkie taking advantage of charity for the hell of it. He wasn't a charity case.
Allison made him feel like a person. She didn't talk much, but he felt like she understood him, and he understood her. Her lack of words were filled by doodle filled silence, and the copious amount of alcohol they drank together on those nights where she wanted to sob but could only paint were eerily similar to the ones where he smoked himself to sleep after a particularly rough encounter with his father.
They were outsiders, and they knew that. They didn't try to be something they weren't. They didn't want to have to prove something to someone higher up on the food chain.
They weren't viewed highly by anyone except each other, and that was enough.
To say they liked eachother though? It was hard for either of them to put it into words, ridiculously enough. But it was there.
Allison's eyes never left the sky, watching a cloud float by freely. She felt just as free as that cloud right now, really. That's why it didn't even phase her when those words left her mouth.
"You really made this summer worth it."
Bender quirked an eyebrow as his gaze left the sky and instead examined her.
"Worth it?"
"Yeah, worth it."
Bender remained silent for a moment. The gentle breeze blew some hair over his face, which he nudged aside. His eyes went back to the sky as he spoke again.
"Well.. you've made mine worth it, too. So worth it, I don't mind dealing with Vernon's shit for one more year," He said as his usual grin split his face.
Allison giggled quietly.
"Lil ol' me made it that good?" She looked at him now.
"Oh yeah," He chuckled, "*so* good, Al,"
Allison smiled quietly for a moment before speaking again.
"I really mean it though. You made it worth getting up all those early mornings and staying up all those late nights. Really, Bender. I wouldn't have done that on my own."
While her face held a soft smile, there was some unwavering sadness in her eyes and words. She seemed obviously grateful, but for something unseen. Bender wouldn't pry, but he had a weird, familiar feeling of what it was.
All he mustered was a nod. His face fell into a soft neutral expression.
"Yeah, I mean.. I get it. It's easier havin' someone there to get you through the easy shit that seems hard. I've been there," He says with an unfamiliar softness. He almost surprises himself.
"Really?" Allison's tone is more doubtful than she intends.
"Yeah, really." He replies defensively before calming himself, "There's been times when my dad well... to put it bluntly, fucked me up," He says this dramatically, getting a laugh out of Allison. It relieved that tension he felt building in his chest, "And uh.. well, seeing you after made me forget about it for a while."
Allison's gaze softened at this. They really were similar, more so than she thought. Even when they weren't telling each other things and just needed a distraction, they were similar. It made her eyes water over.
"Yeah," Her voice was weaker than she meant it to be, "It is easier."
Bender's eyes fixed on her expression, on her tears that threatened to spill. To say he was uncomfortable with his vulnerability was one thing, but seeing her vulnerable was something else. It put his weird feelings at ease.
She didn't think he was weak for feeling these things, and she didn't even have to say anything for him to know. He just. Knew.
He moved one of his hands from behind his head and took her hand in his. He looked up at the sky before she could see his face. He rubbed his thumb across hers as he held it.
Allison's face immediately flushed, and by how quick she whipped her head around to face him, she could tell Bender's was too. A wide smile split her face in half as she squeezed his hand.
It was like an unspoken affirmative. A smile spread across Bender's face too, albeit more bashful than he'd like.
"I wouldn't mind... making things easier for you more often, you know," Bender said, keeping his eyes fixed on the sky.
Allison looked up at the sky, too, her own smile threatening to break her face.
"I wouldn't mind that either.." She replied.
It took some inner courage, but Bender lifted her hand to his lips and placed a soft kiss on her knuckles. A squeak escaped her lips before she rolled herself closer to him on the grass.
He laughed at her sudden clinginess and reciprocated by holding her close to his side. He smelt like cigarettes and faint alcohol, and Allison couldn't get enough of it. She nuzzled into his side before looking up into the sky again.
They both laid there as the sky got darker, and enjoyed their last few minutes of summer together.
