who: Kylo Ren & Eliot Waugh when: After Fray's Arrival, Before Eliot goes to Fray where: Kylo & Eliot's Suite What: Discussing Fray's Guardianship warnings: Minor spoilers for Magicians season 3? status: COMPLETE.
"You're going to medbay." Not a question, a statement, because Kylo knew Eliot too well to assume any other outcome from the current event at hand. His fingers curled into Millicent's fur, as he looked up to catch his lover's eyes.
"I told her I'd be there shortly." He lowered the phone and pocketed it before turning his eyes up to Kylo. He held his gaze and allowed for a period of silence. "She'll need a guardian." That was how it worked on the ship. No one under eighteen was let out until someone stepped up to take responsibility.
Kylo pulled in a breath, but he wasn’t unaware of the implication in the statement. He let it out slowly, nodded, fingers curled once more into Millicent’s fur. The ginger cat shifted in protest. “She will,” a beat. “She may not like that idea much. But, she will be required to have one.”
He needed to say the kriffing words even if Eliot didn’t need his permission, and even if he couldn’t say he loved the idea of a teenager he didn’t know around. Kylo straightened his shoulders back. “She’ll need her own space.”
"She probably won't," he agreed. Fray had a streak of independence and a habit of combating against him. Nor did she have a thorough grasp of human customs. Indeed, she would not be thrilled.
"The robots will move us. Or we'll place her on the couch." It wasn't ideal but it was the best Eliot could think of when they had little to no control of their living situation.
Kylo raised his eyebrows to illustrate his thought in that. He couldn’t imagine any teenage girl being happy on the sofa for long. Plus the sofa was not private space. “We need our own space,” he persisted. “The robots will need to move us. We can’t have her on a sofa indefinitely. I can’t imagine that would be a long term solution for any of us.” But they would have to come up with one and he knew that.
He stood up and stepped to close the distance between him and Eliot. His hands moved to Eliot’s shoulders and he leaned forward to press a kiss to his forehead. “We’ll figure it out, El.”
Eliot didn't savor the thought either. He'd witnessed far too many couch surfers during his life and knew it only put a strain on relationships. "I don't see the robots not moving us. They have for every other family," he pointed out. Honestly, though, Eliot was really wishing they'd be done with the Cruise as soon as possible. They could give her a room at the Cottage with ease.
His eyes shut with the kiss and he gave a light smile. "I should warn you. She's not going to listen to us."
"You think that I was the ideal teenager?" Kylo snarked back with more ease than he truly felt about the situation. "She'll likely make me look like an angel." His hands gripped Eliot's shoulders firmly, following that with a brief massage while he paused, thoughtful for a moment before adding. "You sure about this, El? She isn't yours."
"At least you weren't sneaking off in the middle of the night like I was," he commented with a flash of a grin. "Or were you?"
He drew in a breath and gave a nod. "Maybe not, but she doesn't have anyone else."
A smile crossed Kylo's face, but he shook his head. "No. I was the teenager who hid from everyone in his room, and yelled at his parents semi-regularly. If I'd had you around, maybe I'd have snuck out in the middle of the night." His hands slid down Eliot's side, settling on his ass to squeeze gently, not really a suggestion or even a tease for the moment so much as a reminder of what they had together.
"Then you stop talking to me, and you should go," Kylo leaned his forehead forward onto Eliot's for a moment. "This whole thing is strange for everyone - maybe you can allay some of that for her."
A full on grin bloomed on Eliot's face with the remark before morphing into a smirk as Kylo's hands slipped down. He moved a hand up to slide into Kylo's hair and savored the closeness before responding.
"I'll be back soon, and hopefully with her in tow." Eliot was aware there was a possibility of her rejecting his offer but he couldn't withhold it. It needed to be extended. And he could only hoped Fray would take it. Eliot then took a breath, shifted to press a quick kiss to his lips, before stepping back so he could move towards the door.
Kylo let him go, a smile on his lips as he did, even as the smile faded as Eliot walked out the door. After he was gone, Kylo turned back to Millicent: "What are we going to do with a teenager?"
She blinked, and stretched, reminding him that Fray was just the beginning of younger and slightly smaller beings that they would have to take care of.