No man

Henry Olivier Osborn, heir to the Osborn fortune and current CEO of Oscorp Inc.

[louise-grant-blog]

Harry & Louise || It's complicated

[louise-grant-blog]

Louise had always been more naïve of nature. She had not seen through the odd invitation of her parents and mister Osborn. Just like Caspar said she suspected that it was about a business deal and that their children were just a practical pawn as they had been so often to arrange contact between the two families. 

Louise had not expected for Harry to take her breath away when she laid eyes on him for the first time since eight years. It was funny and odd how you could still recgonize someone while they had changed so much and yet still somewhere were exactly the same. It was different than seeing him in the magazines. Seeing him in flesh and blood was almost like encountering a movie star that you had before only watched in movies. 

He had grown from a boy into a man and he was a strange kind of handsome. Not like a superheroe handsome, but the mysterious kind. The kind that made you wonder what was behind that charming smile and those deadly green eyes.

As he spoke her name it was like he was calling her from the yard once again. Louise, he would say. And she knew he would have thought of a new brilliant game they could play. She wondered if he still remembered their childhood memories as vividly as she did.

She shivered for a moment as he took her hand. As he pressed his cold lips upon it she could hear Caspar huff almost inaudiable, as if he would allow someone touching his girl for only this time. She met Harry’s eyes for only a brief moment. The same eyes she had known since he was a boy. Full of mischief and secrets that he might or might not share with her. 

"It is a pleasure to see you again mister Osborn," she greeted him a little breathless.

As Caspar greeted him he seemed to have let go of Harry kissing his sisters hand, and greeted him cheerful as he always was. 

Louise couldn’t keep her eyes from him, it was like he was a statue that had come to life and she didn’t know when he would freeze and disappear out of her life forever again. He still intimidated her.She realized this and thought herself silly for even considering this but she could not help herself. She remembered how he once had locked both of them into a dark closet for two hours, so she would learn to no longer be afraid of the dark. Their parents couldn’t find them and were furious when they finally appeared but Harry never seemed to be shaken up by anything. It was almost as if she expected him to lure her to the dark corners of the house again. His eyes were like those of a siren the way he looked at her, calling her away from her safe haven.

It was Mister Osborn’s voice who woke her up from her dellusional thoughts. They followed him and Harry to dining room. They took the places they had always taken when the had dinner at the Osborn’s. Even though it had been years, no one seemed to have forgotten it. Louise took her seat next to Caspar and across Harry. Her feet acidentally touched his under the table as she sat down. She looked up at him apologetic as she sat up straight, flaring the napkin over her lap. 

"Now the ‘I bought the bigger present game’ is going to start," Caspar whispered in her. 

Louise had almost forgotten it was the ocassion of her and Harry’s birthday that they were here.

"I’m sure they will save that til after dinner," she whispered back at him with a smile. 

The first course was being served and the polite brainless chitchat could begin. 

"Have you been back long Harry?" she asked him while carefully cutting her chicken on her plate. 

[xscorp-blog]

If he would lure her into the closet now, they sure wouldn't be just sitting side by side for two hours. He tried to push away the dark thoughts that sprang to mind but he couldn't, and he decided to let them roam freely if he couldn't help them either way. It was not like she could see them.

He was still emerged knee-deep in the sinkhole that was his brain at the moment when she spoke again. He had been aimlessly stabbing his chicken - albeit still with the possessed grace he had acquired from a very early age onwards.

"Oh, no," he shook his head, carefully pushing some of the salad aside - he had never been fond of vegetables. Rich kid. Spoiled kid. "I have only returned two days ago, after the semester ended."

That he wasn't bound to go back to school - whether he wanted to or not - was left unsaid. He supposed that his father just hadn't been to pleased with his latest dalliance. He had made a game out of it to embarass them in silence - like only he could.

The models were in the magazines, yes - but the teachers, the boys, no, they weren't. They were mere gossip in the high class community, and perhaps that was why they had to marry now, to shut down the rumour mill.

"England has treated you fair," he told her. "Or perhaps it was just time. It has been such a while since we last saw each other."

It had been. Ages. He remembered her in his garden, a pink dress, quite filthy along the brim. Mud on her shoes. She had been looking at him. She didn't want to go.

"But it will take another year until I see you again," she had said. And he had told her that it would be fine. That they would see each other many times - and it had been the one and only time that he had told her she didn't need him to be happy, if only to console her.

That year had stretched, expanded, lured them into adulthood. And now it was, what, five years, six... seven, and they were faced as childhood friends but they felt like strangers.

[louise-grant-blog]

[xscorp-blog]

"You are a mutant?" he asked, for a moment feeling frightened - but then he remembered Raven. Raven and Charles, and all the kind ones. The mutants who had loved him, cared for him, and he smiled, taking the apple.

"Oh, no, the apple is enough, really. I don’t eat much anyway, stomach can’t...

He had always liked being the boss. He had always loved being in charge. Being frail in built had sort of done his father shame and he had made it his mission to intimidate everyone along the way.

But not her.

He had met her when she was a baby. He had seen her when she was a child. He had seen she was strong, she was honest. She was, he realized somewhat later, everything he was looking for - but well, that was when he was shipped off to French boarding school and he was stuck with brain-dead models and boys for fun. He had been more than surprised when his father had called him back to celebrate their birthdays together.

First he had been surprised - then he had gone suspicious, and when his father greeted him with a warm smile and a hand to his back he was downright appalled. He could guess where this was going. He could guess what would happen now.

But the years had taught him not to defy his father. The belt had taught him to obey. And perhaps it was because he had always harboured some perverse lust towards her. Something that came up only in the dead of night, when there was no sun to witness it.

He could hear his father greeting the Grants, and he heard the cheerful voice of her older brother. He knew how to make his grand entree - his descending down the stairs, hair casually combed to one side, dreadfully mysterious. But he was no mystery. He was an ordinary boy, albeit a very rich one.

His feet were silent on the dark green carpet, although he stopped walking when he saw her beautiful dress. She never failed to impress him.

"Miss Grant, Mister Grant - Louise..." he took her hand, pressing his lips to it. They were very cool, very cold. They had always been. Like a statue he stood again, marble and gold. "Such a pleasure to see you again."

[xscorp-blog]

All for Science || Harry & Gwen

[stay-see-gwen]

Gwen Stacey liked her job at Oscorp. It was the place where she could more than anywhere else practice her passion for science. Aide from her school activities and her boyfriend Peter, she spent most of her time here in the company.

She was just a little surprised to see Harry in the elevator. She knew who he was. But she also knew he was rarely around. She would see him in the magazines with the girls and the parties, but not so often in the office.

The fact that he was wearing sunglasses inside the elevator suggested that he was somewhat hungover. But no matter in what mood or situation, he was always very charming the brief moments she did speak to him.

"Good morning Mister Osborn," she said with a gentle smile while she clutched her workingpapers against her chest. 

"It’s good to see you again. Off to a meeting?"

[xscorp-blog]

"Sadly, yes," he answered. "And please, Harry. Peter will only be more of a jerk if he hears you calling me Mister Osborn." He wrinkled his nose, only imagining his friend's reaction gave him more of a headache already.

He knew how to be charming, at least.

His father had always made sure to teach him how to be charming. Sure, he didn't teach him how to ride a bike, how to write or how to walk - no, those were the tasks for the maids and nannies. But Norman Osborn always taught Harry to be a charmer.

He took off his sunglasses as the elevator sunk towards the lower floors, away from the blaring sunlight.

"Spanish officials, I fear," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Come to make one deal or another. It's probably weapons. It's always weapons nowadays."

[xscorp-blog]

All for Science || Harry & Gwen

He was a busy man nowadays. It had been a bit of a switch - he was used to living a rich boy's life; drinking, sleeping in, never having to nurse a hangover for the sake of meeting Spanish government officials. He liked the rich boy life, and although he had pretended to be pleased with the way Oscorp had been handed down the line, he couldn't care less about the enormous building with his name on it.

He stood in the elevator, silently praying that everyone would just be quiet for the coming hours, and that the Spanish officials had some miracle plain crash so he could retreat to his office and take another nap. Perhaps he shouldn't have drank all of that Scotch, but hey, who stopped him?

The doors pinged as a sign someone else wished to enter the elevator, and Harry was half tempted to yell at whatever employee of his it was. Get out. Get your own fucking elevator. Take the bloody stairs.

But he didn't. He was still an Osborn. He had some pride.

He was surprised to see it was Gwen - it wasn't like he didn't know her. Peter's girl. He hadn't talked to Peter much, had been too busy, but he'd seen her around. She was a gifted employee.

"Morning, miss Stacey," he coughed, hiding the hoarseness of his voice in the gesture, before he retreated to his casual place against the elevator's wall.