belle_etoile (tsukino) wrote in doorslogs, @ 2012-11-06 09:47:00 |
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Entry tags: | belle etoile, flash thompson |
WHO Val & Adam
WHAT Saying hi!
WHEN Recently
WHERE Val's Comic Shop
WARNINGS None!
Val had enjoyed talking to Adam again, even if it was on a magical journal that had names and writings that were different from her or Adam’s handwriting. It was odd, very odd, and although she was generally pretty good with odd, she wasn’t going to really believe it until Adam showed up in her little comic book shop. It really was little, a hole in the wall that would’ve been passed over if you weren’t looking for it specifically. Val liked it that way because they made enough money to turn a profit without dealing so often with tourists who didn’t know the difference between DC and Marvel (or anything else for that matter). She always let someone else handle those. She was still in the middle of organizing everything to the way she thought was best, which usually meant staying late because there wasn’t much of a chance of her coming in early. She still loved sleeping in, burrowed under the covers all nice and warm. She’d already been at work for a couple hours (literally two) before she decided she needed a smoke break. Not one to be shy about anything she did, Val lit up the joint she had rolled just that morning. Dressed in jeans, worn sneakers, her obligatory grey tee that had THE COMIC STORE printed on the back with a smaller print above her left breast, and a smattering of stupid plastic bracelets on her arms, Val kinda fit the stereotype for a stoner girl. She embraced it though, and with a boss who was a drug dealer, she figured as long as she was turning profits on both sides of the business he wouldn’t care. Despite not even being sure if Adam would show, Val still found herself looking around every few minutes to see if there was a familiar face in the crowd of people walking past, ignoring her. She preferred it that way, as opposed to them complaining about her smoking. Adam might have been unhinged a little, but he felt good. Not emotionally, not all the time, but the steady stream of drugs and booze kept his nerves down and his mind slow. Well, slower than it usually was. He came to a couple fast realizations after MK left. One, that since he wasn’t able to help her, he wasn’t really cut out to be a doctor. Sure, she might have had psychological damage (not his expertise) but if he would have just set his work and hobbies aside, she could have improved. Two, Adam knew that it took too much work to be sober and he deserved to fall off the face of the world for a little while. Maybe forever. He was always good at thinking up new ways to lace and combine, so why not make that his new career choice? He’d still be helping people, even if it was just a little illegal. Three, Adam wanted to go back before vigilantes. He didn’t want to worry about justice or fighting crime. He just wanted to be like everyone else and let that part of his life go. So, Val’s appearance in Vegas was a godsend, in a way. She hadn’t grown up, probably wouldn’t ever, and he liked that. They could just breeze through life until he forgot MK even existed. That’s what he needed most of all. To stop thinking about her. Showing up a little later than he promised, Adam was dressed in black jeans and a grey Venom shirt that looked more Eddie Brock old school than the Flash he had in his head. He couldn’t miss that wave of red hair and outfit that just screamed Kevin Smith fan standing outside of the store and he walked up to her while she was looking the other way. “Val.” He said with a boyish smile and held his hand out for her to pass the joint to him. To her, he looked about the same. Maybe a little older with worry lines across his face. But, he still had that innocent expression across his face. She turned at the sound of her name, a smile already on her lips before she even caught sight of his familiar face. God damn, he hadn’t changed a bit. Neither had she, but she hadn’t gone off to be a doctor or anything fancy. Not like he had. She’d always admired that about him, how smart he was. The fact that he was wearing a Venom shirt just made her laugh as she handed the joint over. “Man, six years and it could’ve just been yesterday,” Val said by way of greeting, giving him a rather appreciative once over. Yep, definitely just like yesterday. It felt a little bit like her life was coming full circle, or maybe a bit like she was all grown up, a dealer now instead of a customer. Either way, she thought Adam would be proud of her and that just made her smile. “Pretty sure that shirt’s just as old too,” she teased, plucking the joint from him and taking a nice long drag. She handed it back as she slowly started to exhale. Val couldn’t quite resist leaning in to press a quick kiss against his cheek, but that was all. They had way more important things to discuss. Like the fact that Flash and the Spidey Crew were a thing. She tugged him a few steps into the alley way so they’d have a small bit of privacy. “So what’s this about you being a robot? And Flash? I mean, Flash and the Spidey Crew sounds like one of those knock off bands, like Harry and the Potters, you know? Someone else said something about voices and mine’s French, well. I think she’s French. She speaks gibberish that I assume is French. I thought it was just a bad batch. Guess I was wrong about that.” She paused, thoughtful. “I feel like Flash and the Spidey Crew is wrong. Peter and the Parkers just sounds stupid. Hmmmm.” Val pursed her lips trying to think of a band name that made sense. He grinned at her, taking a long drag as he leaned against the concrete wall. Memories of how they used to sneak in smoke sessions between classes or after a long night at the bar flooded back and it felt just about as good as taking a hit from her joint. “Oh.” He shrugged, a little surprised she didn’t see it herself. But, things were different when they were friends, weren’t they? “Went clean for a while. Surrounded by emotional people. Not to mention pressures of keeping my head straight at the clinic. People called me robot.” Adam’s smile slipped off his face for a second. He didn’t like it. Felt as if people never really understood just how much he actually cared. Val never had that problem. As she rambled he managed to smile again, laughing a little at the suggested band names. “No, no. Voice in my head is Flash Thompson. High school bully turned war vet turned Venom agent.” He gestured towards the shirt as if it offered an explanation. “In this world he’s a little more preachy. Just as stupid.” Val made a face when he said he’d gone clean. “Well that was your first mistake, hon. And you should’ve told them to fuck off. I mean seriously?” She was pissed at those people for getting on him about it. He did what he could to cope because helping people was just what he did. Val wasn’t stupid. He’d probably seen just about everything and if she knew him, and she thought she did, he would’ve taken anything bad to heart. Probably still carried it around with him. “Ugh, whatever. I’ll just be your fairy drugmother and we’ll get things sorted in no time.” She was sure of that much because while Adam cared about everyone, he didn’t exactly leave time to care about himself. It certainly seemed like no one else had stepped up to do it, so she’d fill in for a bit, like old times. She was liking Vegas more and more already. “Preachy kinda sucks,” Val replied with a shrug, finding a comfortable spot against the brick wall. “He from the latest run or what? If he’s still running with the Spidey kids, he’s not much older than the college shit right?” Trying to keep timelines straight with comics was murder, but she always tried anyway. Linear was kind of her thing, in everything but her thinking half the time. “Good. Need someone to take care of me for once.” Adam took a final drag of the join and then passed the end of it off to her. Smoker etiquette still wasn’t lost on him. “He’s in high school. They all are. I think he’s from the movie, but he’s turning into the comics Flash we all don’t really care about.” He shrugged and Flash gave a resounding Fuck you toooo from the back of his head. It was true, though. Flash was one of those comic book characters that was so far in the background it was a shock that he was Venom now or even in the new movie. Once he understood his place in the Marvel door, Flash would be a lot happier. Adam was just trying to do him a favor, from one non-Peter Parker to another. “Tell me about yours.” He asked, brows raised curiously. He still liked learning about everyone else’s Alters. She gave him a warm smile, one that promised to take all the pain and trouble away, as she took the joint back. Some things you never forgot, like riding a bike or how to share a joint. It was nice to see that he was getting back on the horse without any issues. Val laughed as he described Flash’s situation before taking the last drag. Just as good as the first, she thought to herself, letting the stub drop to the ground for her to squash out. “Poor Flash,” she replied, but in a way that clearly conveyed she didn’t give a rats ass about Flash at all. “Oh well. Maybe he’ll get smart for half a second and realize you probably know his life a hell of a lot better than he does. I mean, I doubt it, cause it’s Flash but,” she shrugged, “ya never know.” He asked about her voice and Val took a minute to close her eyes and really think. The voice spoke fairly rapid French from what she could tell, a vague sound here or there she could recognize from her one quarter of French she’d taken in high school. “She talks too much, too fast. French I think?” Val shrugged and opened her eyes. “Got a fancy gold key and all, but I haven’t been over to that hotel thing. Passages, right?” That’s what baby Robinson had said. Val wondered if he knew the girl, or that she had MJ in her head, but she didn’t ask. She leaned her head back to look up at him and stuck her tongue out at him just because she could. “Serious about the job? Cause I could use some help reorganizing this place. Still not quite there yet.” “Sounds like a blast. Should have been a comic book character. Marvel maybe. Always good to-” He narrowed his eyes, thinking about how much trouble Flash, MJ and Gwen had caused him on both sides of the door. “Changed my mind. Glad you aren’t through the same door. Too much meddling.” Another smile. Probably the most smiling he had done in a long time and it showed. He looked like he was getting over a bad cold, which was true, but it was a little more than that. He was still in some unseen pain that she eased away. She made him feel good. Always had. “Would love to work here. Expert at organization. Good at helping customers. Never get on your case for taking a smoke break unless you refuse to share.” Val grinned again, in part because she thought it was funny how he changed his mind and in part because he was obviously starting to loosen up, to lose some of those worry lines. That was definitely more her style. Worrying led to grey hairs as far as she was concerned and it would just be a bitch trying to match her hair color to a box. “Please, I totally could’ve rocked Jean Grey. She’s badass and a redhead. Very important quality right there,” she replied, hooking her arm with his and leading him out of the alleyway and towards the front door. She pulled it open and hustled him in before looping her arm in his again. “All definitely good qualities, and it just so happens a glowing letter of recommendation came in this morning so I think that means you’re hired.” The store itself was medium in size, big enough for cases to go down both side walls and then a divider case down the middle of the store, all of the shelves filled with comics. The registers were in the front and there were toys and knick knacks and such scattered about the store. All in all, pretty good for what she’d wanted. “Marvel’s on the left, DC on the right. Thought it’d be easiest for the noobs to understand,” Val explained, even though each respective side had a nice big sign hanging in front of the shelves. “What do you think?” “Jean Grey has a touch of the crazy.” Adam titled his head teasingly and let her give him the tour. It was a nice little comic shop. Not like the kind that only sold plastic sheathed single issues from the 70s or the super clean, bare modern ones that only sold graphic novels. It was somewhere in the middle, which was comforting. “Like it a lot. Could put a shelf next to the register with weekly recommendations. Might be able to organize the indie section a little better, too.” His brain ticked with ideas; little things that would keep the place flourishing. Comic book stores were making a resurgence lately, but it was still important to keep a welcoming, simple format. The store would be fine without him, but he had a need to contribute. He touched the top of her arm linked with his and squeezed it gently. It was his way of saying thank you. “Any customers I should look out for?” There were always couple. The complainers, the hagglers. “Just a touch, but I’m a little crazy, some would say. I think it could’ve been cool. ‘Sides, you’d be here to keep an eye on me.” Val lit up like a Christmas tree when Adam said he liked the place. She was proud of it, even more so now, though that probably betrayed just how much was coming back from the past. Things would happen how they’d happen, that was how she tried to live for the most part, but that didn’t stop the all too familiar warmth she’d always felt around Adam from starting to wash over her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and squeezed his arm briefly in return before pulling him along the Marvel side of the store. “Hmm lets see. Oh, there’s this guy that just started coming in recently, tall, blonde, heavyset, he doesn’t know anything about anything, so he’s always asking a billion questions and expects me to have like, every issue all the time.” Val shrugged. “Then there’s this couple that comes in sometimes, not too bad really, but when it’s just the girl, she’s a downright bitch and when it’s just the guy? Flirts with everyone in the damn store. There’re a couple of others but,” she shrugged, “They’re mostly annoying than anything. Still wanna work here?” Adam smirked through the description of patrons, each one of them sounding like the kind of regulars any comic book store would have. He was actually sort of looking forward to it, as the only really serious thing he’d have to worry about would be what comic book heroes would win in a fight and if Jack Kirby was better with Marvel or DC. “Yes.” Adam relaxed. Really, actually relaxed. “I think I’ll fit right in.” |