Summary:Roy rushes home when he feels Kelly's alarm through their mindlink. Log Info:Storyteller: None |
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It only takes about fifteen minutes for Roy to return. The jingle of his keys in the door lock will be the first hint as he comes through the door, arrow notched and ready. "Babe?!" he calls out, worry in his voice. She can feel his fear - he's lost so much - he can't afford to lose her as well.
Kelly was tied up in her own emotional turmoil, and so didn’t notice Roy’s fear without him mentally reaching for her. As he gets closer, it becomes more noticeable. It makes her pulse pound and her breathing quicken as it spills over into her.
The door opens for Roy even as he’s getting his keys out, and Kelly gets to her feet quickly from where she was sitting on the couch as he bursts in. She backs up towards the wall, a reflexive movement to get out of the way of potential danger and not from fear of Roy himself. Her hand stretches out to the side, finding the wall to try to take some reassurance from it’s solidity and he feels her presence cross that threshold to look through his thoughts.
She exhales in a shuddering breath, eyes closing with some relief. “You’re scared for me.” She realizes out loud. And not that they’re being attacked or something. She sniffles and wipes at her eyes a bit again. She’s not especially pretty when she cries. Stupid red hair. “I’m OK. I’m OK.” She reassures him, though her emotions are far less settled than her outward composure.
Lowering the arrow immediately, Roy almost drops the bow when he sees Kelly's condition and that she's backed against the wall. And then he's realizing that she may be worried that he's going to shoot her. His eyes widen for a moment in confusion. "I felt you." he says worriedly.
"So of course I'm scared for you, I l…" and she won't need to really read his mind to know what the next word out of his mouth may have been. Probably like. Totally like. Right? Not loathe, that's for sure.
Kelly would probably blush that she let her emotions spill through their mental connection if she weren’t so upset. She does wince a bit, finally moving away from the wall. She does give the window a glance though, to double-check that it’s closed and locked. Maybe it’s quadruple-checking. Or more. “Sorry.” The scientist apologizes, holding out a hand towards Roy for his. There’s a little quirk of her mouth when he aborts saying the word, and she lets it go for the moment. Mostly because she’s still shaken up.
She catches his thought and she shakes her head. “No, I wasn’t worried you might be trying to shoot me.” She assures him, forcing enough of a smile for her dimples to appear. “I just didn’t want to get in your way if you *were* going to shoot anything. I just picked up your fear and didn’t realize it was because of what I was feeling.” Which just makes her feel even more guilty for her emotions getting away from her.
Kelly makes an unhappy face. Kind of like a scowl and a grimace all mixed together. “I had a visitor.” She says, her tone annoyed. She shares the memory of Batman standing in the apartment when she got home, standing there all creepyscary. Of course Roy heard about the other night at the gala he totally didn’t want to attend with her and that the Batman was there.
"That's generally how these things work - though it doesn't help when you have taken up warehouse space in my usually vacant spots." Roy comments, trying to coax that smile to remain, as he slides his hand into hers for a squeeze.
As she shares the memory of her visitor, Roy frowns. "Yeah, I know that guy." he rumbles. "My best friend used to be one of his sidekicks, til he got deaded. But he got better. It's complicated." comes the response as he rubs his hand along her arm. "He won't hurt you unless you mean him trouble, but still, scary as you know what, right?"
"Goddamned Batman."
When Roy takes her hand, Kelly steps into his personal space and wraps herself around him, laying her head against his chest. The already diminutive redhead seems even smaller as she curls up against him. While anger kept her confident while the Bat was here, left alone, Batman’s comments just dredged up some of her own self-doubt. Not to mention feeling awful that he could think she’d do something like that.
The attempt to keep her humor up does get a rough little laugh. “Well there’s lots of empty space in there.” Kelly jokes in return. That his best friend was dead and ‘got better’ has her pulling her head from his chest to give him a mildly incredulous look. How could that *not* be complicated? She doesn’t chase it at the moment though, since she can’t really deal with complicated at the moment.
She puts her head back on Roy’s chest and nods when he says Batman won’t hurt him, and a bit more emphatically when he talks about him being scary. “He took part of me.” She says, her tone small and also a bit petulant.
When she curls against him, Roy rests his chin on the top of her head. He has a little scruff showing - probably time to shave again. She looks up at him, and he gives a shrug. These things happen in his life. It's weird.
Then she says he took a part of her. She can feel him bristle beneath her, and he's on the verge of tearing away from her. "He did /what/? What did he take? I'll…" he trails off, thoughts going dark on what he'd do to him in a dark alley.
Besides probably get his butt kicked.
Kelly’s arms tighten even more around Roy. Like she’s trying to climb into his skin like she does his mind. “My psisteel. He must have taken it when I had him plug in the piece I made to turn off the machine. He was *testing* it. That must have been why I’ve had that itchy sensation. He gave it *back* just now, but still.” Her shoulders are up, elbows in tight. There’s a definite sense of violation there. The redheaded scientist hasn’t had her abilities long, and consequences like this to using them hadn’t really occurred to her.
As Roy bristles, her hold on him relaxes enough to pet him a bit, hands stroking his back. Comforting *him* has the upside of distracting her from the crap rattling around in her own head.
_
There's a growl from Roy at the fact that Batman would do that to her - but what does he expect. "He probably wanted to add you to his files of people." he grumbles. "All about being up and knowing what everyone is doing while hiding from the rest of the world. Real jerk."
And Roy's going to leave it at that, because he's more concerned about /her/ than a cowled guy. "..are you okay, babe?" he asks her quietly, turning his attention to meet her moss green eyes with his own brighter ones.
Kelly probably looks worse than she is, due to her coloring. Her eyes are a bit red-rimmed and her nose is red too. She sniffles and nods when he asks if she’s alright. Even if she does wince when he says she’s likely being added to his ‘files’. She knows next to nothing about the Bat. He’s not even an area of interest for her, so all she catches are the occasional headlines and news stories. And the most recent ones of *those* were pegging him as a killer. The stories about him being exonerated didn’t have nearly the coverage as the ones about his alleged crimes did.
“Yeah. Yeah I’ll be OK.” Kelly adds the words to go with her nod, and then something occurs to her. Things she’s technically known, but that didn’t really click in her head. She looks up at him again, worry clouding her expression. “The event the other night. That’s like, nothing compared to the kinda stuff you’ve done. And do.” Her head tilts down, looking at where metal meets flesh on his own arm. Roy, maimed. His friend, dead. That Roy’s spent his time standing where Batman was standing, right?
Of course, the ones about him being a killer sold newspapers and ads. Innocent people never get that much press coverage. "You're still exceptional. I mean, in more than being a kisser." Roy teases lightly, but she can still feel that bundle of worry about him as he studies her eyes.
He doesn't catch what she's clicking on. He's a mess. And that's not just the tip of the iceberg. He gives a rueful shake of his head. "I've had my own crosses to bear.. if it's too much…" he trails off, not really wanting to go down that path.
Kelly unwinds herself from where she’s practically wrapped herself around Roy and gives him a small push to the couch. Carefully. He’s still got the bow in hand and everything. Which sparks some alarm, but not like, serious alarm. “Did you come into the building like that? Are the police about to be knocking on the door?”
Once he sits down, she climbs into his lap so she can curl up there. Good thing she’s relatively small. “I’m not going anywhere.” She tells him, trying to cut off Roy’s anxiety before it builds up a head of steam. She doesn’t say anything like she ‘couldn’t do that to him’. He doesn’t need to worry that she might ever be staying with him to keep him from any kind of self-harm, which he’s obviously prone to.
“You’re working for SHIELD now, but you were one of them, right?” A vigilante. Hopefully not quite like Batman, though. “And even with SHIELD, you’re going to be in the same kind of danger.” All the time.
"Yes. I was one of them." Roy admits. "I did all of that off the books crap once upon a time. The good fight. The one where we thought we could do it better than SHIELD, the local police, everyone." he chuckles dryly, and feels Kelly settling in his lap. He sets aside his bow so that his fingers can caress her. Not his the real one, but the artificial fingers as well.
"Then I let it get to my head. So above the law, so eager for the thrill, that I started looking for more dangerous thrills - and then the ones that weren't quite legal. And then…" he trails off, falling quiet. She knows the story. He doesn't need to rehash it all over again.
Kelly Dehaven settles her head against his shoulder, tucked in against his neck. Her eyes close and she lets out a long sigh, just soaking in his comforting presence. She's not used to her world tilting on its ear like that. But she's also not used to having someone to lean on. It's… nice.
"What about now?" She doesn't look up at him. She doesn't need to watch his face to get a sense of his emotions. They're right there in her head. "Is the thrill still part of it?"
"Yes. I was one of them." Roy admits. "I did all of that off the books crap once upon a time. The good fight. The one where we thought we could do it better than SHIELD, the local police, everyone." he chuckles dryly, and feels Kelly settling in his lap. He sets aside his bow so that his fingers can caress her. Not his the real one, but the artifical fingers as well.
"Then I let it get to my head. So above the law, so eager for the thrill, that I started looking for more dangerous thrills - and then the ones that weren't quite legal. And then…" he trails off, falling quiet. She knows the story. He doesn't need to rehash it all over again.
Kelly Dehaven settles her head against his shoulder, tucked in against his neck. Her eyes close and she lets out a long sigh, just soaking in his comforting presence. She's not used to her world tilting on its ear like that. But she's also not used to having someone to lean on. It's… nice.
"What about now?" She doesn't look up at him. She doesn't need to watch his face to get a sense of his emotions. They're right there in her head. "Is the thrill still part of it?"
"On occassion?" Roy asks, unsure of himself. "These days.. it's more, what else am I gonna do? I'm not even uniquely qualified to flip burgers." he explains with a small smirk as he considers the question more deeply, and that swirl of emotions in his mind at the thought. There is some thrill in it still, yes. But most of it is.. that sense of loss, that incompleteness he feels without what he had in a family, in a life before.
His hand absently brushes over her back and traces her, before moving back into her hair. "I can do some good in SHIELD. At least it's something. I mean. The good fight and all that. And if I hadn't have come in…" he quiets a little. "I'd not met you."
He can feel the quiet smile. In the shift of her emotions and the curve of her mouth against his neck. "You don't need to flatter me." She teases him, though her tone is more subdued than usual. Her hand strokes down the center of his chest, as though *he* might need the comforting.
"I'd just be concerned if it was the reason." If he was chasing that high. His own unsurety speaks volumes, though. She moves her head a bit, so she can look up at him, and the look she gives him almost seems chastising. "If you *wanted* to do something else, you could make that happen." She sounds very sure. "But I don't think you do." She's not going to let him corner himself into what he's doing because he feels like he's not good enough. For anything. "And I'm not arguing with you that SHIELD is where you should be." She assures him.
Maybe he is chasing that high, though. Now that Kelly's stuck that thought in his head, Roy's tumbling it around, as if trying to take the roughness off of it. "Sure, I could be a one-armed juggler down at the park." he responds with a smirk to her. "Raise your hand if you have a high school equivelancy and one thumb." He raises his hand slightly and wiggles it at Kelly.
"You're probably right. I don't think." His arm gives her a squeeze. Reassurance, as much for himself as it is for her. And leaning down, he presses a light kiss against the side of her mouth.
Kelly Dehaven purses her lips in that 'I'm trying not to smile' manner she has, dimples shadowing her cheeks at him. "If you wanted something different, you could make it happen." But she's not asking him to. She's not even suggesting him to. She does cuddle in a bit closer, though. And she's sitting on him so he can't get away, right?
When he kisses her, she turns her head to make it into a real kiss, even if brief. "I just know how scared I was. At the fundraiser. When we were attacked. I don't know how you do it." What's a rush for him is much less so for her.
"I do it because if I don't, who will?" Roy asks. "I mean, someone has to. And these days, well, at least it's on the right side of the law?" he asks her with a mote of amusement. But he sees her smile and get closer. And that helps. Much like when he's talking to teens about drugs - sometimes it's better to depreciate yourself a little to lift someone else up.
He adjusts slightly beneath her, and then that smirk returns, playful and teasing as he brushes his hand on her sleeve. "But you were a lot stronger than you made yourself out to be. From what I heard, you saved the day. So go you." he points out, then grins. "The only something different I want right now would be our state of dress." he teases back.
"Others do it too." Kelly reminds him, not unkindly. "It's a team effort." And he's part of the team. "Everyone's got their specialties. Apparently yours involves long trips to not-so-exotic locations." She wrinkles her nose a bit. At least her passport is up to date..
When he compliments her, she snickersnorts. "I got someone to plug me into a USB port and I pushed the big red button." Well, for her it was an obvious 'off' switch. "There was Batman and a woman with superstrength there. Not to mention Agent Turner with his… mumbo jumbo." She frowns at that, not too keen on magic, as she doesn't understand it. "I'm sure they would have managed to save the day without me."
His comment on their state of dress gets a roll of her eyes. "Did you not *just* get home?" She teases.
"Maybe they would have. But not as cleanly as you did. What, Batman would have just thrown a Batarang at it." Roy responds with a roll of his eyes. "Okay, so over selling each other short tonight. So.." he rumbles as he moves to tease Kelly for a moment and puts his hands at her sides for a tickle. "How do I get to plug my USB into your port?"
So what if he just got home. She's an ugly crier, but she's still hot.
Kelly Dehaven's brow furrows as she looks up at him. "I don't have a port." She points out, *completely* missing his innuendo. At least for a solid moment. And then she blushes, so very bad and smacks his chest. "You're awful." She points out. "I'm totally having a moment over here and you're thinking with… well. *ahem*. Yes."
"Sorry, sorry!" Roy chuckles when Kelly smacks his chest, and he leans away from her, frowning. "It's my defense, really." he admits with a sigh. "Innuendo and entendre is about all I have in my social arsenal." There's a shrug of his shoulders before reaching down to squeeze her hand. "We'll order some take out, I'll get into something more lounge worthy.." because he's still in his work outfit. "..and we'll watch a movie together."
Kelly Dehaven pushes away from him so she can get up and out of his lap, holding out her hands to help him get to his feet. "Well, I can handle ordering the take-out." Since she's all wi-fi enabled. "And we can get you into something more comfortable. And you can keep me safe from the Big Bad Batman."