TBC (onshakyground) wrote in marvel_prep, @ 2013-09-25 00:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | avalanche, gambit |
Log: Fess Up
Characters: Dominikos Petrakis & Remy LeBeau
NPCs: n/a
Location: NYC, Sewers
Timeline: 21st-22nd September, evening to morning, it's all very confusing *timey wimey* [Backdated]
Description: It’s impossible to put it off any longer, it’s time for that talk
Rating: PG-13 (Swearing FTW)
Remy couldn't put it off any longer. Dominik was back and safe and Remy had even packed along the boy's own clothes, Petra's too with multiple sets, for them to have once they reached the Morlock tunnels after they changed into whatever it was Pietro had brought for them after the grand escape. The group of them had had the rest of the night to sleep off the long tense adventure in a safe haven, but Gambit hadn't been able to rest. The constant worry that they had missed something and that someway, somehow, the MRD would come pouring through the tunnels to claim Dominik and Petra back, along with the rest of them, including the Morlocks, kept him up that first night.
He wandered around, trying not to bother any of the shy and not so shy mutants, but eventually, when he didn't wake up from it all just being one strange dream and finally had accepted that they'd done it, actually broken into the MDC and rescued two mutants, he went to find his friend. The one who he was pretty sure he still owed a punch to the ribs for getting caught in the first place. When he found Dominik, he pulled him away and took him for a walk through the tunnels, wandering the crisscrossing byways until they were deep under the city and running runoff water was all they could hear besides their own footfalls.
"So, Rarity. How's it feel?" Hands in his jacket pocket, Remy looked straight ahead, speaking to him directly for the first time since the illusion had come off and they'd arrived with the Morlocks.
---
It was surreal, being out of jail and not having four concrete walls on either side of you along with not being barked at around the clock. It was taking some getting used to, but Dominik as soon as he was able had shed the jumpsuit in favour of some worn jeans with particularly impressive tears across the knees, a v-neck dark shirt and a reliable pair of boots. It was good, to be back in his own clothes, but the mark of cuffs and other such things were still clear on his skin. Most especially where he'd worried the cut on his lip into a scar.
And then there was the collar, the ever persistent and long standing reminder of his time spent behind bars.
He'd barely let Petra out of his sight since their escape, but that was a habit he'd have to break. Especially now that they were out, girl would need room to breathe he suspected. Besides she had people she needed and wanted to talk to, couldn't do that with him hovering like some sort of overprotective big brother.
Of course the moment Remy came back around, looking like his old self, the Avalanche's stomach sort of bottomed out. He had figured he'd have a lot longer before needing to talk out in detail what he'd hinted at in that letter of his. But, timing it would seem had never been his strong point.
They'd fallen into step beside one another, a comfortable or not so comfortable silence having settled between them. Dominik's written word hanging like a cloud, making the air thick and muggy. For the most part Dominik walked along, ducking beneath a few wayward sections which he was too tall for, eyes slipping over to look at Remy as the Cajun moved sure footed as always through unknown territory.
"It feels good," he answered, voice low and just this side of gruff, but then he hadn't slept much before the breakout and he still hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. "Like I can breathe again." Again his teeth sought the scar and settled there, intense gaze finding its resting spot on Remy’s profile. “Of course Petra and I have you and the others to thank for that.”
---
Remy turned his head to smirk at Dominik, red eyes moving over the tall mutant. It felt good to be beside him again, no glass, no wondering what was going on. He had a target for the pent up anger he'd kept at bay all these weeks and yet he wasn't willing to vent it. Dominik's letter quite efficiently had stopped Remy from wanting to seek a fist fight with Dom for getting caught. He didn't think he could hit a guy who wanted to talk about... Well, Remy had even toyed with the idea of pretending he hadn't actually seen the texts to Emma. Not that he could lie, if asked directly, especially not to Dominik of all people. The boy was his rock and he needed him around and, well, that was the whole issue.
"You know what I tink about dat, ami?"
---
"What's that?" Dominik asked, turning his head to catch Remy’s eyes.
He stuck his hands into the back pockets of his jeans and pushed downwards, shoulders lifting ever so slightly as he felt a chill run the length of his spine. A flash of skin near Dominik’s hips accompanied the movement.
He knew they needed to talk, he had to say what was on his mind, but he was trying to figure out what to say and the best way of saying it.
---
Remy opened his mouth to say that he thought that they wouldn't have had to have gone through the damn trouble at all if he hadn't been so hot headed in the first place, but he stopped himself when Dom's gray eyes settled on him. He couldn't do it. Couldn't sour the mood with his residual anger. That was all in the past now, and deserved to stay there.
"I tink we should let sleepin' dogs lie," he finished instead, shrugging once at Avalanche and started to walk a bit ahead, taking a turn down another tunnel that led to a short drop. "You and Petra. Lucky you had each other." He commented, glancing over his shoulder at Dom before he crouched and dropped off the ledge, landing easily on the other side.
---
Dominik saw a flash of something in Remy's eyes, but he knew the Cajun had bit his tongue. Good thing too, the last thing they really needed or wanted right now was a confrontation. Not after everything.
He followed Remy off the ledge and nodded his head. "Yeah, I guess so. But that place has really got into her head, she's not the same girl as she was when she went in. But then I dunno if I'm the same. Guess time will tell."
Dominik felt like there was a definite weight sitting on his chest and he figured he might as well confront it. "So," he began. "I think we need to talk." And those words, everybody hated them, mostly because they were associated with bad things.
"About what you saw in my phone and in those text messages."
He scrubbed his hand through his hair. "So I'm just going to talk here and try not to shrivel up and die as a result, alright?"
---
When Dominik said that maybe he wasn't the same as he was before he'd gone into prison, Remy felt a clenching in his chest that he tried to ignore, particularly when the dreaded but expected line came that they needed to talk. He didn't look up at Dominik as the boy joined him on the new path on their deep wanderings through the underground tunnels. The light shot down from various places from the streets far above them and not giving much, at that.
“A’ight,” he shrugged, but stopped walking at least, sticking his hands into his pockets to finger the deck of cards that rested comfortingly against the inside panel, thumb dragging over the edge of them. “Go on, den, cher. But don’t go dyin’, now. Didn’t go through all dat just to have to haul your dead weight weight back to camp,” he teased, glancing up at Dominik, then to the side. Fuck, joking about dying, with Dominik, wasn’t funny at all.
---
Dominik inhaled then exhaled before he gave a short nod of his head, brushing a hand over Remy's shoulder when despite not making eye contact he knew the Cajun was tenser than he had been a second ago. Mentioning death, smooth Dominik, really smooth. After that he dropped his hands away and stuck them into the back pockets of his jeans. Right, time to fess up and just say the thing that had been sitting on his chest for longer than he cared to admit.
"So there's no point beating around the bush, especially when you've seen the text messages, but I'd rather you hear it from me than be left wondering." He worried the edge of his lip and resisted the urge he had to fiddle with his hair. "I do have feelings for you, feelings that aren't the sort a friend has for another friend. I never intended to feel the way I do and I definitely didn't intend it to happen. It just sort of did, which for me is weird, seeing as I plan every detail of my life until I've pretty much taken all the fun out of it."
He kicked at a loose piece of stone then cleared his throat. "That said I'm not looking for anything from you, Remy. And I'm definitely not expecting anything. I know you're still healing, from losing Haroun, and that's going to take time. As it should. I know better than most how long it is before you feel anything approaching normal after having lost somebody you love." He lifted his shoulders. "Admittedly that reason along with many more is why I never said anything sooner. Didn't want you to think I was preying on you or for us to make a really stupid mistake that we'd both regret." Like the kiss for example, the kiss Dominik had ended long before it had its chance to get going. "Also I'm saying this bit as your friend, you need to work through the grief and the associated emotions from the loss of Haroun before you think about getting involved with anybody again. It'll be better in the long run."
He rubbed at his neck before sure enough into his hair went his long fingers, restless movements and flickering grip. "And then there's Rogue." He looked over at Remy for a moment before glancing away. "You and her have some seriously complicated history." Now when Dominik said complicated he was being kind because the pair of them were so tangled up with one another that it would be impossible to pull them apart, like reaching into a hornets nest and not expecting to get stung.
He soon rubbed his fingers across his collarbone. " You and her, it feels to me that you're caught up in this dance. Tango's probably the best fit for it. Each of you is trying to take the lead, but neither of you want to let the other have it so all you do is step on each other's toes. I know it's complicated, life's complicated." Dominik swallowed and tensed his jaw, hating how open and exposed he felt like he was a raw aching wound.
"Plus you have a lot of other stuff going on, stuff I know you don't want to talk about. And I get that, but I know you've got a lot on your mind. And I'm not telling you this to add more to your burdens, Remy. I'm not. Hell, I'd happily take yours on, but all in good time. It's what friends do and you've saved my life by getting me out of that place so we're good whatever happens we're good."
Avalanche leaned back against the wall and folded his arms across his chest, fingers closing around his arms and he was in some way trying to pull back his control and regain his composure because you could see everything Dominik had ever thought or felt in those grey eyes of his. He wasn't good at this, never had been. He'd always been a brick wall far as his own thoughts and feelings went, but this, well, it couldn't sit on his chest any longer.
"I feel things intensely, Remy. It's kind of my thing. And I know it's a lot and it can be a little suffocating at times, but I'm going to try not to let my intensity get the better of me. Let people breathe more." He ducked his head and stared at a particular spot on the ground as he forced the remainder of what he wanted and needed to say out over a particularly large lump in the back of his throat. Breathe, Dominik, breathe. Soon he lifted his head. "Thankfully I'm a big boy so I can take pretty much anything you or this world has to throw at me so whatever happens I'll be okay. And I'm not just saying that, Remy. You're my friend, first and foremost. Hell, you're the closest thing I have to a best friend. Wouldn't trade that for anything."
Everything was so intense and Dominik was scared, frightened even, especially as he was out on a limb with absolutely no safety net. He was being honest, trusting the other boy with his thoughts, feelings and niggling insecurities.
"I just don't want things to be weird or awkward between us." He breathed out, shakily and unevenly. "But you deserved to hear this from me."
---
Gambit stood perfectly still and eventually lifted his gaze to meet Dominik's, holding it unflinching until he mentioned Haroun and the loss of Haroun and overcoming that loss before he could think about moving on. It made his lips press together and tender emotions, freshly unearthed with Jono's recent return rose again to the surface. But he stopped them there, suppressed them, and then pushed them down again with a small shudder that shook his breath. He was okay. He was okay. He had promised Haroun. The Cajun had a lot of love for a lot of people, but some things went along with some types of love that didn't with others, and those were things he had had and lost with the Moroccan. So new and hopeful. Starting again was a frightening proposition. But at least it was something Dominik seemed to understand.
It was different with Rogue. It wasn't starting again, it was already there. She was already there. She'd been there even before Haroun. Their timing was just never right. They were up and down and scattered and never together, and Dominik's description was very apt. It was complicated with Rogue. She ran when she should stay, and she stayed when she should run. And he was the fool who had let her in. But once he let someone in, he didn't kick them out. Even after Rogue had seemingly written him off, he was looking out for her.
'Other stuff'. When Dominik said it, Remy almost snorted a short laugh. That was what his problem was with letting people in. They hurt him. They took advantage of him and used him and he let them because of some archaic code of honor he'd had ingrained into him as a thief. Keep your word and repay your debts.
It felt to Remy like Dominik was setting him up to reject him nicely and have them still be okay, and it made Gambit furious, if but for a moment. He was taking away Remy's choice, giving up, and putting it squarely on Remy's shoulders and his loss of Haroun, his association with Rogue, and his 'other things'. It was all so familiar.
Dominik was crossing his arms and it felt like he was shutting himself out from Remy and not that he was trying to hold himself together. Remy's brows furrowed and his heart pounded harder. Dom was saying something about saving his life and them being good, that he was a big boy and would be okay, and the rolling emotions within Gambit finally came to a head, then deflated all at once when he saw the frightened but trusting expression on Dominik's face. Dom wasn't the only one to feel things intensely.
"Why you gotta wait so long to tell me all dis, Rarity?" He asked, letting go of his anger and frustration with a sigh, hand going to his face to cover his red eyes, "L'enfer... You knew I--" He used that hand to gesture helplessly at Dominik, then gave a short laugh. "Merde. I know. I know why you did it, cher. I... I thank you."
Because, all in all, truth be told, promises or no promises, Shaw, Petra, Emma, and Rogue notwithstanding, Dom was right, Remy knew he wasn't ready for something else yet.
---
“What can I say?” Dominik shot back with a small smirk. “My timing sucks, always has.” He ran his tongue over his lips and then pushed a breath out, sinking down the wall, pushing his hands into his hair as he just gathered what remained of his fractured composure.
Well, fuck.
Dominik felt, well, he didn’t know, but he just felt.
And he felt a ripple of tension along his jaw and he breathed in and out, gathering the air and trying to better still his thundering heart and keep himself from breaking wide open. The last few weeks had been nothing short of intense and Dominik was still reeling, but he knew he’d done the right thing, in saying what he was thinking. Better out than in, right?
Soon he rested his arms across his bent legs and he tipped his head, regarding Remy from beneath his lashes.
“So, yeah, don’t really know what to say now except for I’m sorry it took me this long to say something.”
---
“What, all dem words and now you’re speechless?” Remy teased, stepping closer to Dominik once he had settled against the wall on the floor. With a sigh that released some of his own tension, Remy crouched down beside the Greek teenager, his duster coat touching the floor of the tunnel like a cape, almost, and he propped his elbows on his knees, balancing easily on the balls of his feet.
Cocking his head at Dominik, the thief quirked an eyebrow, trying to get the boy to look at him, “You know I need you around, right? I… need you in my life, Dominik. Don’t start gettin de impression, de high hope, dat you off de hook.” He smirked a little, but his expression sobered up and became sincere, his dark eyes with their red centers locked on Dominik’s gray.
---
Hands in the hair, it was a common sight for Dominik, and it was indicative of his mental state just as much as it was a habit which was pretty damn hard to break, but even from around that movement he turned his head to meet Remy’s gaze.
He could see the sincerity in the Cajun’s eyes and whilst it didn’t mean the knotted sensation in his stomach eased any it did mean he was able to give a genuine smile, a smile which hadn’t really been seen on the Avalanche since his incarceration.
“Like I’m that easy to get rid of,” he said with a snort. “Whatever happens, man. I’m here. God help you.”
---
“A bon couer, cher,” Remy chuckled and reached out to give Dominik’s shoulder a nudge, catching a piece of his shift in a snag to pull with him as he stood, dragging the other teen with him to his feet and, once they were both there, wrapped him in an embrace.
There was no glass and no dividing prison walls between them anymore, so hell, Remy was going to test the other boundaries between them. A gambler, a thief, a tactile teenager who had loved and lost and frankly, could do with a hug and, judging by the way Dominik was fingering his hair, so could the Greek baker.
---
Dominik went with the pull and shift easily enough, finding his footing as he and Remy rose from the ground. And then he was being hugged and Dominik, well, Dominik simply wrapped his arms around Remy.
His grip was sure, certain, unwavering and most of all strong and reassuring. His hugs were the type that could weather you in any storm and anchor you to an exact point in time regardless of what was happening around you.
He exhaled a breath, squeezed the back of Remy's neck and just let the tension drain from his shoulders.
“Missed you, man.”
---
“Remy might’ve missed you, too.” He teased lightly. Dominik’s presence and his strong unwavering embrace was a comfort - the same one that had encircled him the night he’d returned to Stark’s after Haroun’s death and was caught in the hallway leaving his room. Dominik had come very close to having the living hell kicked out of him, as volatile as Remy had been feeling that night. But the stubborn Greek hadn’t budged, and hadn’t moved since. Aside from the month long tenure at the MDC.
“Which way back?” Remy pulled back enough to look down the tunnel, his arm looped around Dominik’s waist with his fingers locked on his shirt for an extended few seconds while his other hand, in sneaky thief fashion, deposited the boy’s wallet and his cell phone, turned off, into his pocket.
---
“You’re seriously asking me that question?” Dominik queried with a lift of his eyebrow. “Have you forgotten how I can’t even find my way around the school let alone darkened sewers?” He leaned back, arm left draped around Remy’s neck and gaze searching the darkness.
“Yeah, no. I have no idea.”
He tipped his head to look at Remy. “You wanna give a guy a hand?”
---
“Hell, I wasn’t paying attention, I was following you, homme.” Remy lifted both hands, gloved palms empty now, and grinned. “Gambit might know de general direction but… dat’ll cost you.”
---
Dominik’s eyebrow lifted and his arms folded, expression clearly amused. “Cost me?” He tapped his fingers against muscles which flickered beneath the tight pull of his t-shirt. “Alright, I’ll bite. Name your price, my friend.”
---
“Alright, alright,” chuckling, Remy pulled the collar of his jacket up and thought a moment, shaking a tangle of dark hair from his eyes, “I get us outta here, you owe me a game of pool once dis is all over wit. D’accord?”
---
Dominik pursed his lips as if he was giving it some serious consideration before he gave a short nod of his head. “Alright, man. You have yourself a deal. You get us out of here and I owe you a game of pool.”
He even went so far as to shake on it.
----
Sealing the deal with a handshake, Remy led the way back unerringly, having a knack for finding his way the first time through a place, which came in handy in thieving work - or breaking people out of maximum security prisons.