InsaneJournal

Who: Luke and Wren
What: Post-jail visits in a motel room.
Where: An old motel.
When: The night Wren was released on bail.
Warnings: None.

Wren had left a note for Gwen, just in case the older woman came looking for her. (Gone to see Luke. Didn’t want to break the closed door rule.) The note was left on the center of the bed, and she was hoping it would be there, undisturbed when she came back. She wasn’t sure how rules worked in a house, and she didn’t know what Gwen was trying to protect her from. The obvious answer was that there was nothing to protect her from, not when it came to things that happened in bedrooms, so she guessed it was for Luke’s benefit - that she did understand. But even though she knew Luke was probably much better off not seeing her, she wanted to see him too badly not to find a way to do it.

She knew the hotel because she’d hidden girls there in the past. It was old, probably violating a million city codes, and the two stories were crumbling under the cold of Seattle and years of being neglected. It was owned by an old man, and Wren liked him. He was in his eighties, and he talked a lot about a girl he’d loved once, and he always let her stay without asking any questions.

She did as she promised, texting Luke the number (B2, second floor). The lights stayed off, the sliding glass door on the balcony stayed open, and she was only sorry none of the first-floor rooms were habitable. The room was clean, despite everything else, and even in the dark it smelled like old roses and soap. She sat on the bed, legs crossed, wearing pants and a shirt with Property of Virginia Mason emblazoned along the front and hip. She hadn’t been back to Edison, and even with the weight she’d lost in prison Quinn’s clothes were too small around the hip and chest for her to wear. It was cool out, but not cold, and she watched the old drapes flutter in the wind as she waited.

Luke only decided to leave a note at the last minute, since he figured sneaking out was risky enough without giving any indication of where he was going or who he was with. Hopefully no one would attempt to enter his room while he was gone but considering how unpopular knocking seemed to be in the apartment, well, it was better to be safe rather than sorry. The note was short and simple - Went to see Wren. Be back soon. - and much easier than a face-to-face conversation. He couldn’t take the chance that Max or Thomas might refuse to let him leave. Getting out of the apartment was easy enough, a combination of timing and strategy, though he was admittedly tense until he’d managed to change into his suit and mask. At the moment Robin seemed far more untouchable than who he was without anything to hide his identity, even if he did stick to the rooftops so he could avoid any trouble.

Climbing would add extra strain, so Luke dropped onto the balcony from the one above with enough noise to announce his presence just before his shadowed form appeared. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness, and he didn’t rise from his crouch until he could make out Wren sitting on the bed.

“Hi.” He spoke first, so she could at least recognize his voice, before making his way from the doorway to the bed with even steps. The mask came off as he sat on the edge, since there was no need for it here, and his hands found hers in the dark.

She heard him before she saw him, and she didn’t move at all. She had gotten so accustomed to seeing him out of the suit lately that the bulk of it in the moonlight almost came as a surprise. She smiled when he said hello, the voice so familiar that it made her feel warmer just from hearing it. She remembered everything her mother taught her, about how loving someone would only make her weak and scared, how they’d leave and it would be unbearable. She already knew that last part, but she thought her mother hadn’t understood how the first part outweighed it.

She waited until he pulled the mask off, until his fingers found hers in the dark, and a heartbeat later she pushed herself up onto her knees and hugged him. The kevlar was hard, cold, unfamiliar in an embrace, but she didn’t care. In that warehouse, she had been sure he was going to die. And then she’d been sure she was going to die in jail, without ever seeing him again. She held on tight, and she didn’t say anything at all. Her eyes adjusted to him being there in the dark, and she knew she should move back, that she was going to make him uncomfortable.

She forced herself to do just that, to rock back against the heels of her feet, though her fingers remained twined with his. She remembered the stitches, then, forgotten in the embrace, and she looked down in the dark. “Did I hurt you?”

Despite all his assurances and promises, Luke hadn’t actually known whether or not Wren would be released on bail until she’d called. It was one thing to say everything would be fine and another to believe it, never mind make it happen at all, and he’d been worried that somehow things would fall apart and she would be stuck in jail for what might as well have been an eternity. He only waited a brief moment before returning the hug, remaining silent while he simply absorbed the fact that she was there. Even with the kevlar he could feel that and it was just the sort of reassurance he wanted.

“No. It doesnt hurt much anymore.” It was true as long as he didn’t move the wrong way, but Luke was too busy inspecting her for any sign of mistreatment to worry about the stitches. They didn’t matter. “Tell me about Cassidy,” he said a moment later, since his distrust had only grown on the way to the hotel and he refused to let the man get anywhere near Wren if he might end up hurting her, intentional or not.

She had lost weight, but there was no signs of anything wrong beyond that, and she didn’t even realize what he was looking for. Instead, she tugged on his fingers as she spoke, not aware she was doing it. “Cassidy, he knows about the Masks. When Quinn needed a suit to impress the Bat, Cassidy got it for her. I paid him back,” she said, rushing over those words, “but he knows. So when the Masks were getting shot at because of that news article, he caused the raining and the flooding to make it stop, because he was angry and afraid I would get hurt. He did the snow because he thought someone had taken me.” She bit her lip, and she tugged harder on his fingers. “I think he’s gone a little crazy, though. He said he could flay someone’s skin off with his ability, that he would, and he wants me to go to Aubade, so that he can keep me safe.”

She sat back, crossing her legs and trying to see his face in the moonlight of the room. “I might be able to make him stop if I go, and I think he’d still let me see you,” she said, and it was hard to believe that once-upon-a-time she wanted nothing more than to have a client like Cassidy. “He was in love with girl once who died,” she said, because she thought this all might actually go back to that girl, and not be about her at all. “I think really bad things happened to the people who killed her.”

Satisfied that there were no physical injuries or marks that he could see, Luke shifted his attention to what Wren was saying. The fact that Cassidy had used his ability twice in the past and both were related to Wren was troubling enough, but his hands tightened around hers when she mentioned him going crazy. “He said that?” Words didn’t equate to actions, but there was more to suggest that Cassidy would follow through on his threat than that he wouldn’t. “I can understand how it feels to want to keep someone with you all the time, to make sure they’re safe, but that doesn’t make what he’s done right.” Luke frowned. “What if he doesn’t, Wren? What if he doesn’t let you see anyone? He might take you somewhere else, instead of Aubade, and he has no right to do that.”

He wasn’t sure what a dead girl had to do with anything, unless Cassidy was projecting her death onto Wren for fear that the same thing might happen to her. Still, if he was unstable then it was too dangerous for her to be around him. “Don’t go to him. If he really has gone crazy, then it’s too dangerous. You shouldn’t have to be the one responsible for making sure Cassidy doesn’t abuse his ability.”

She glanced down at his fingers when they tightened in hers. “About flaying the skin off whoever controlled him? Yes. I think he’d do it, too, if no one was there to stop him.” She tried to remember what Cassidy had said about his fiancee. “He was on a boat, and someone sank it, and I think it made him a little crazy then, too. He never told me what he did to the people who sunk the boat, but he did say he did something bad.”

She listened to his concerns, and she bit her lip. “Isn’t it worth it if it keeps everyone safe?” she asked. “We do this,” she said, touching the mask he’d slipped off, “to keep Seattle safe. If he never does this again, just because I’m living with him, isn’t it worth it? Wouldn’t it be selfish not to?” She moved her hand to his cheek, fingers soft there. “And he doesn’t want anything from me that he hasn’t already had. He wants me to love him, but I think it would be okay if I was just there, and he’s already had me that way.” She paused, looked down at what she could make out of the bedspread between them. “As long as I could still see you. If you would want to see me, that is?”

Luke knew that none of the Masks would stand by and allow Cassidy to flay the skin off anyone, mind controller or not; they would ultimately be forced to find a way to deal with him if he refused to stop. “Cassidy needs to control his ability on his own, but even if he can’t or won’t... you shouldn’t have to take on his responsibility.” Losing someone always left its mark, and he knew that some people dealt with it better than others. Still, that couldn’t excuse putting an entire city at risk.

“No,” he said, without hesitation or doubt. “It’s not the same, Wren. We choose to do this. It’s not an obligation.” Luke didn’t like the idea of Cassidy having her in any way, even if it had already happened in the past, and he knew he wouldn’t be the only one to object to what Wren was planning on doing. “Just because he wants something doesn’t mean you have to give it to him,” he said, trying to keep the frustration out of his voice. He was always surprised that Wren seemed to doubt whether he’d want to see her, despite his assurances that he did. “Why do you think I wouldn’t want to see you? Of course I would, but I still don’t think you should stay with him. Gwen won’t agree to it either, I bet, and neither would Thomas.”

She could hear the frustration in his voice, even as he tried to keep it out of his question, and she smiled fondly, the tip of her lips visible, even in the mostly-dark of the room. “Because someday, you’ll realize what everyone else already knows - you’re too good for me,” she said, as if it was a normal thing, even if it made her a little wistful. She knew Thomas was only being nice to her because of Luke, and she suspected Gwen’s concern came from the fact that she missed her own daughter. Neither of those things had to do with her, not really. “I’m always waiting for you to get tired of me. It’s what usually happens with boys and men,” she admitted, and there was some surprise in her voice at that admission. “It might happen with Cassidy, too, someday. I can’t not go see him, Luke. He might blame you, and I can’t let that happen.”

She knew she should let him go, send him back to his apartment and his family, but she wasn’t ready to yet, and it was a selfish thing, unusual in her. Despite her assurance that she would only go visit Cassidy, she was worried that he wouldn’t let her leave, that she wouldn’t get to see Luke again. She tugged on his fingers again. “Tell me what’s been going on at home?” she asked, because that worried her, too, in a completely different way.

“No, I’m not.” Luke didn’t doubt that there were some people who believed that, but he wasn’t one of them. Saying that he was too good for her implied that she was less of a person, at least in his opinion, which didn’t sit right with him whatsoever. “I’d never get tired of you, Wren. That doesn’t happen when you really care about someone,” he told her, instinctively shifting closer. He hated that she thought so little of herself. “Listen, what if you go to see him and he won’t let you leave? Because if he does that, I’ll break down his door myself and I don’t think he’d like me very much afterward.”

He didn’t want to leave yet either, despite the chances of someone noticing he was gone increasing the longer he stayed out. Luke glanced down at their hands and shrugged at her question. “Not much. Thomas works, Max works, and I think Amanda’s teething.” He didn’t mention that Thomas was angry with him, since he had every right to be, or that he spent more time holed up in his room than he did anywhere else. Part of him knew he was being difficult, but there was a strange satisfaction in it even with the occasional twinge of guilt.

When he shifted closer, she shifted too; the movement as instinctual as his was. His comment about not getting tired of her, however, made her breath catch and she wound her arms around his shoulders in a hug, not as tight or fast this time, mindful of his stitches and scooting toward him in the process. She knew he believed it, and that was enough, even if he did get tired of her someday. When he asked his question, she shifted slightly, sitting on the bed so that she was close enough to rest her cheek against the cool hardness of his kevlar-covered shoulder. “I think I don’t like your suit very much right now,” she admitted, looking up at him in the dark. “You’d really do that, wouldn’t you?” she asked about breaking down Cassidy’s door, because she knew him; he would. It made her shake her head and smile a little bit.

She had wound her fingers with his again as she spoke, and she looked down at them when he did. “If you told him how you felt, would he understand?” She was feeling positive toward Thomas just then, and it made it into the tone of her words. “When he came to the jail, he was really nice. It was weird. He’s never really nice. He even smiled once.” She tipped her head up to look at him. “But I wish we could live anywhere we wanted,” she said wistfully, not really noticing her use of the word we.

Luke couldn’t help a quiet laugh when she commented on his suit, which wasn’t at all suited for non-violent physical interaction. “Sorry,” he said, wrapping an arm around her waist in a sort of half-hug. “It kind of gets in the way, doesn’t it?” He doubted hugging someone in kevlar was very comfortable, and there was a definite lack of closeness with armor to act as a sort of barrier. “Yeah, I would.” Something as trivial as a door was nothing in comparison to other obstacles he’d faced in the past.

“How I feel about what?” He looked down at her with a puzzled tilt of his head. Thomas hadn’t gone into too much detail about what he and Wren had talked about during his visit, but Luke assumed it had mostly revolved around bail and legal issues. “What do you mean, really nice? I know he can he pretty serious sometimes, but he’s never actually... mean.” At least not intentionally. “Where would you live, if you could live anywhere you wanted?” He didn’t really think much of the ‘we’, assuming she was simply referring to both of them.

“Kind of,” she said with a smile, referring to the suit, which was no more comfortable with the half hug than it had been before. She glanced toward the window, which was still open, and then back at him. She wanted to ask him to take it off, just for a few minutes, just for a proper hug, but she wasn’t very good at asking for things she wanted for herself. She tugged at one of the stays at his waist, but that was all, a hesitant pull.

“How you feel about them never being home,” she said, though the question made her wonder of that’s what was bothering him, or if it was something else. “Or is something else bothering you about home?” She had an idealized vision of Luke’s home life, which included things she’d never had herself. Loving parents, warm food, a big bed to sleep in and clean sheets, no scary sounds from any of the rooms, and a kitten. “He was understanding,” she explained about Thomas, deciding that was the best word for it.

“I would live somewhere warm,” she decided. “On the beach, because I miss that from when I was little. If things got bad, I could always run away to the water or find somewhere to sleep on the sand. A big house, one where anyone who was scared could come hide for awhile.” She scrunched her toes under his thigh, hugging her knees to her chest. “And one of those beds that’s so high you need steps to climb up onto. How about you?”

Fortunately his suit wasn’t half as complicated as the Bat’s was, and since Luke took the tug to mean that Wren wanted it off he decided that it couldn’t hurt. He slipped off his gloves and worked at the clasps with fingers that worked well even in the dark, thanks to practice; within a couple of minutes he had his upper body armor off as well as the arm pieces. “There.”

Considering the circumstances, Luke doubted he was in much of a position to start complaining about how busy both Thomas and Max were even if he’d wanted to. Besides, he wasn’t a kid. He was capable of operating independently without adults around all the time. “No,” he said with a shrug. “There’s nothing to talk about, really, since they’ve always been busy and I’ve never minded.” He wasn’t a kid, after all; before Thomas he’d lived on his own and he didn’t need to become dependant on anyone else now.

He leaned his head against hers as he considered the question. “I’d always wanted a really badass treehouse as a kid, but instead I had a bunch of boards that didn’t last very long.” Luke smiled at the memory, more to himself rather than being directed at Wren. “So that’s where I’d want to live. A huge house in the trees, with wooden bridges and hammocks. It’d be quiet and just far away enough from everyone else so that I could avoid them if I wanted to, without being completely disconnected, but certain people could come and go whenever they wanted,” he added with an audible grin.

She waited until he’d taken the upper body armor off, until the arm pieces had been put aside, and she hugged him again. He was warm from being under the cold kevlar, much warmer than she was, and she tried to be careful of his stitches as she held onto him. It was tinged with desperation, the hug, as if she wasn’t sure she’d ever get to hold him again, and she sighed against his neck as she buried her face against his skin and held still for as long as she thought she could without him thinking it was weird.

She uncurled her legs, and she climbed off the bed a second, just long enough to close the doors for safety, and then she was back and tugging him to lie down beside her. She curled on her side, only her bent-up knees touching his hip, and she pillowed her cheek on her arm. She knew he missed home, his family, and she knew it was hard to live with people who didn’t notice you very much, even if they loved you. “I lived with my uncle for a little bit last year, and with his best friend, and they weren’t there very much. I know they cared about me in their own way, but it was still lonely,” she admitted, adding with a tiny shrug, “and then they left.”

She grinned when he mentioned the treehouse, and she shoved at his shoulder softly. “Is there going to be a no girls allowed sign?” she asked, thinking the idea of little Luke wanting a treehouse was adorable. “If you let me in, can my big bed come, too?” she asked, rolling onto her stomach and looking at him. “You could make me little wooden steps to climb into it,” she added playfully.

Luke didn’t like the undercurrent of desperation he felt in the way she hugged him, as though Wren wasn’t sure when or if she’d get the chance again. It made him wonder if there was something she wasn’t telling him, maybe about Cassidy and whether or not he was planning on letting her leave, but instead of asking he simply tugged her closer. There was still time to convince her to stay as far away from Cassidy as possible.

He stretched out on the bed beside her, propping his head up on one hand as he listened. “Did they know how you felt?” Luke knew he had a tendency to get into some troublesome situations, and it made life even more difficult for Thomas and Max, but it wasn’t as though any of it was intentional. Sometimes he thought it would be easier for everyone if they didn’t have to worry about him all the time.

“Back when I was eight I would’ve said yes, but things are different now,” he teased. “Girls don’t have cooties anymore.” He rolled onto his back and turned to look at her, grinning at the idea. “Sure. There’d be lots of room for your bed, and I can build stairs no problem. You could have your own room and everything.”

“I don’t think so,” she said about Charlie and Hal. “Charlie never really knew what to make of me, and Hal liked me for awhile, and then he got tired of me.” She said it like it was normal, nothing to be concerned about, and she shook her head against her hand. “They really weren’t around much, and they didn’t have rules like Gwen.”

She laughed at the information that girls didn’t have cooties anymore, and she pushed at his feet with hers playfully. When he rolled onto his back, she followed suit, using his shoulder for a pillow and then curling against his side. “Who makes breakfast?” she asked. “And who cleans? And can I crawl into your bed when I have nightmares?” She had nightmares a lot, and it was one of the things that worried her about living with Gwen. She draped an arm over his stomach, and she closed her eyes and tried to memorize everything about the moment, about the room, about him, about how he felt under her arm. “I wish we could just stay like this,” she said quietly. No tomorrow, No Cassidy, no trial.

“People show they care in different ways, I guess. Not everyone has rules.” Most of the adults he knew, however, did. Even though Thomas wasn’t really his father and Max wasn’t his mother, legal or otherwise, they had the same kind of rules his parents did back in Musings. “I think we might be breaking some right now, but I don’t really care,” he admitted, pulling a face. Most of the time Luke did his best to avoid deliberately disobeying Thomas, but not even that was enough to get him to agree to refrain from seeing Wren.

He draped one arm loosely around her waist, enjoying the closeness without the usual sense of awkwardness that came along. “I don’t know. I’ll hire someone, or learn how to cook without burning things. Same for cleaning, and you can crawl into my bed whenever you want.” Luke stared up at the dark ceiling and wished he could tell her that they could stay like this, without having to worry about anything else, but it would have been a lie and he didn’t want to do that. “Do you really have to go see Cassidy tomorrow?” The question was asked quietly, and he turned his head to watch her expression.

“I’m a bad influence,” she said, knowing he would be home, in bed and safe if she hadn’t asked him to come. He was in an old, abandoned motel, one that charged by the hour, and it was her doing. Their worlds were different, and she knew that, too. “I really don’t mean to be,” she admitted. “I just wanted to see you.”

She sighed quietly when his arm draped over her waist. He was getting better about her need to be affectionate and touch, but she was still surprised when he initiated anything like that. It made her smile, and she tipped her head back to look at him. “I would offer to cook and clean, but it might be fun to watch you try,” she admitted. “I’ll make sure to keep a fire extinguisher handy.” Another, small smile. “And I’ll try not to steal the blankets.” Then he asked about Cassidy, and her expression shadowed and went dark. She looked down, rubbed her cheek against his chest as she shifted closer. “He’s expecting me, and I don’t know what he’ll do if I don’t show up.” She didn’t want to go, and that was obvious, but it was just as obvious that she would go, unless someone forced her not to.

Luke shook his head immediately, bumping his knee against hers as though it would help convince her otherwise. “That’s not true. I’m here because I wanted to see you, and it was my choice.” He could have easily said no, after all, but he hadn’t wanted to.

“I bet you’d laugh if I needed the fire extinguisher,” he said with a mock frown, but it only lasted a moment before turning into a smile. “We could share the blankets, and I’d make sure there was enough.” Despite the fact that none of this was likely to ever happen, there was still a sort of carefree fun to imagining it anyway that reminded him of childhood. It was overshadowed by the obvious fact that Wren didn’t want to go to Cassidy, and it made him angry to think about how the man either didn’t realize that or didn’t care. “You don’t know what he’ll do if you do show up either,” he said firmly, though his voice remained quiet. “Tell him you can’t, or see him in a public place... maybe with someone else there too, just in case. It’s not right what he’s doing, using his ability to get you to go to him.” In his mind, at least, that was exactly what the other man was doing. “I won’t let anything happen to you,” he said a second later, almost as an afterthought.

When he bumped her knee, she retaliated by throwing her knee over both of his, pinning them with soft fabric against the heavier legs of his suit. She made a playful, triumphant sound, and her expression brightened again for a moment. “I could have invited you somewhere that didn’t involve a bed,” she said, scrunching her nose and laughing at the statement. “Somewhere age appropriate,” she added. “Like a playground.” There was a smile there, too, a reference to the fact that they weren’t allowed to talk in the same room alone. And, lastly, “I’d steal the blankets anyway.”

“I don’t think he’s doing it on purpose. I think he’s not right in the head. He stayed locked up in his apartment for a decade or something like that, because he was afraid. Now I think he’s just projecting it on me, too, that fear.” She reached up and touched his lips with her fingertips when he said he wouldn’t let anything happen to her, the touch fast and then gone when she’d realized what she’d done. “I know you wouldn’t let anything happen to me,” she said, because she did know. “I wouldn’t let anything happen to you, either,” she said, and there was a connection there in her mind. Cassidy knew about Luke, blamed him for her kidnapping and now for her arrest. She was doing this for all of Seattle, yes, but for him, too. Maybe more for him, though she couldn’t tell him that.

“No fair,” he accused with a laugh, though he made no effort to move out from under her knee. Luke rolled his eyes at the mention of a playground, which he was sure the adults would have preferred to a dark motel room, but they clearly didn’t have much faith in either of them. “Age appropriate according to who? It’s just a bed, and playground equipment isn’t very comfortable.” He let out a resigned sigh when she said she’d steal the blankets anyway, as though he’d been expecting it. “Then I’d be cold and alone on my side of the bed.”

Even though Luke did see some kind of logic in Wren’s explanation, it was easier to believe that Cassidy was intentionally pressuring her into something she didn’t want. That wasn’t fair, though, and if he acted on that assumption things would only get worse. “Maybe it’s not really his fault, but he still shouldn’t be projecting anything onto you. You can’t give him the kind of help he needs, Wren. Staying with him is only a temporary solution and won’t actually fix anything.” He barely had a chance to register the feel of her fingertips on his lips before they were gone, and he was silent for a long moment afterward. “There’s nothing I can say to change your mind about this, is there?” He shifted to the side, just enough so that he could lean his forehead against hers.

“Age appropriate to the adults who think we can’t be in a room with the door closed,” she said. “I don’t know what they think we’re going to do that we haven’t already done,” she added, unthinking, and she was very glad of the darkness when her cheeks flushed bright red, warm enough for her to feel the color. She continued, unthinking, just to say something else. “We can share. It’ll be warmer that way,” she said about the blankets, and the side of the bed, both, and she was pretty sure she was blushing even more, which was silly. But it was different with Luke than with other boys or men, where she didn’t worry about what she said or did.

She was perfectly still when he leaned his forehead against hers, and she closed her eyes and let the silence stretch out around them. When she finally spoke again, it was almost a whisper. “I promise that if he doesn’t let me go out once I get there, I’ll get in touch with you somehow. And I promise we can try something else if that happens.” It was a concession for him, not for her. She would never think to leave for herself, but she didn’t want him upset or getting himself into trouble over it. She touched her fingers to his cheek, and she spoke a little louder. “I promise, even if he won’t let me leave, to sneak out to that costume party that’s coming up, if you promise to go.”

For a long moment Luke couldn’t think of anything to say in response, since they had already done what he suspected the adults were worried they might do if they were left without supervision. It wasn’t fair, really, since the circumstances had been extreme all those months ago and they’d been alone countless times afterward. “Yeah,” he said with an awkward laugh. “Except they don’t know about that. I mean, I never told anyone.” Except Bunny, that is, but he really didn’t feel like bringing her up.

He nodded slowly, resigned to the fact that he was going to have to hope for the best and trust that Wren would let him know if anything went wrong. “Okay. If he doesn’t let you go, I’ll come get you and we’ll figure something else out. He can’t keep you like some kind of prisoner no matter what kind of problems he has.” Luke knew he wouldn’t be the only one who wouldn’t stand for that, and it was a small comfort. The prospect of the costume party, though, made him hesitate. “I don’t know,” he said doubtfully. “We won’t even be able to find each other if everyone’s in costume, and weird things seem to happen whenever someone throws a party.”

“Did you and Quinn...?” she asked, curiosity getting the better of her. She couldn’t help but feel that it looked like she wanted to steal the other girl’s life. Her boyfriend, and now her mother. But it wasn’t like that, not really. Luke, she’d felt the way she felt about him since Bunny, which seemed liked years before, she just hadn’t wanted to tell Quinn for a bunch of different reasons. And Gwen was unexpected, as was living in Quinn’s room and taking her place there. And, really, rather than enjoying it Wren was just wondering when it would end, when she would lose it all. She felt like a temporary replacement part, and she clung to him tighter without realizing it, honestly afraid Quinn would come back one day and Luke wouldn’t have time for her this way anymore.

She smiled at his doubts. “If we know going in, maybe it will be okay?” she asked, adding, “nothing really bad has happened at the parties. We can meet outside?” she asked hopefully. It was, she thought, probably one of the last times in a long while she could see him in public, between the trial and Cassidy.

By now the pain that usually came when Quinn was mentioned had faded to a dull twinge, more wistful than angry, but it hadn’t disappeared altogether just yet. The chances of her returning became slimmer each passing day and Luke still struggled to accept the fact that he likely wouldn’t see her for a long time, if he ever did at all. “No,” he said quietly. “We didn’t.” Apparently Thomas thought they had, or at least that they would, but things had never gotten that far. He didn’t realize that Wren saw herself as a replacement, and if he had he likely would have felt guilty about making her feel that way. That was the last thing he wanted.

“Maybe,” he said with a small shrug. It would be something to do, at least, and Max would probably give him a hard time about it if he refused to go. “Alright. I’ll go, and we can meet outside.” If they stuck together it might be a little more bearable, at least, even if they were in costume.

She was quiet when he answered her question about Quinn, feeling guilty for asking it almost immediately. But then he was agreeing to go the costume party, and she sat up and slid one thigh over his unthinkingly, settling her weight on his thighs, and smiled down into his face, her hair tumbling forward and veiling his face until she smiled and tucked it behind her ears. “Really?” she asked, and she wondered if this was going to be life - a series of stolen moments. He’d changed things for her, this boy in the bed, in ways he didn’t even understand, and her smile turned softer and fonder as she looked down at him in the dark. “It’s just nice, you know, having something to look forward to,” she added sheepishly.

The room was dark enough to keep most of his face in shadow, but Luke still did his best to keep his expression neutral as though having a girl practically on top of him was nothing out of the ordinary; without the kevlar it was a little more difficult. Part of him thought he should sit up or attempt to ease her off without making it obvious, but at the same time another part didn’t actually want her to move. Maybe the adults had something after all, Luke thought with an internal wince, even as he looked up at Wren and returned her smile. “Yeah, really. It beats staying in my room all night and there’s a chance it might be fun.” After a moment of hesitation he propped himself up on his elbows, trying not to shift too much without even realizing it. “Besides, you want me to go,” he added with a slight shrug, as though that was explanation enough.

She didn’t notice his not-reaction, because she didn’t expect Luke to respond to her in that way. He never had, and it didn’t occur to her that having a lapful of girl would change that. She leaned down and kissed his cheek thankfully, lingering over it a minute before sitting back. Even as she moved, she began to feel a little guilty for asking, the guilt of not being accustomed to making requests for herself, and she immediately added “I understand if you want to stay home instead, or do something else?” She paused, another thought coming to her. “Or if you want to meet someone else there?” she asked, voice going quieter and more unsure, and she was starting to feel worse about asking the longer she thought about it, and it showed. “I wasn’t trying to push,” she assured him, moving to scoot off him.

A brief smile tugged at his lips when she kissed his cheek, but it was replaced by a bewildered frown moments later. Luke didn’t think he’d said anything wrong, but something must have caused Wren to doubt that he wanted to go, never mind that there was someone else he’d rather go with. “You didn’t push,” he said, pushing himself up into a sitting position and catching her shoulders before she could slide off and away. “I don’t want to stay home, especially since I’ve been stuck there for the past week, and there isn’t anyone else I want to meet there.” He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. I do want to go.”

She stilled when he caught her shoulders, surprised by it, and her attention returned to his face and any thought of escape disappeared. She’d been with a lot of men, and she’d been with them in a lot of ways, but this, her on his lap and his arm across her shoulders, made her shiver and want in a way nothing had before, as innocent as it was. Her lips parted in surprise, and then she was scrambling back off his lap like a scared virgin. She realized it a moment later, and she bit her lip and glanced toward the sliding glass door, as if she’d seen something there, because it was the only thing she could think of to explain her reaction. “I thought I saw something,” she lied, cheeks going red in the dark again, and she looked back at him. “But it was just a tree.” And that was two lies in one night. She took a deep breath, and she exhaled slowly. “Okay, so I’ll see you outside the party,” she repeated, and she kissed his cheek again, closer to his mouth, quickly. “It’s getting light. You better go,” and she thought maybe those were butterflies in her stomach.

Luke tilted his head to the side, puzzled by her reaction, but Wren was scrambling off his lap before he could ask her if anything was wrong. He looked between her and the glass door uncertainly, as though attempting to figure out whether or not she was telling the truth, a small part of him wondering if maybe there’d been another reason that had nothing to do with seeing anything. “Oh,” he said with a quick nod, deciding not to push the issue. The kiss just confused him further considering her reaction moments prior, but he flashed a grin regardless and went about pulling the kevlar back on and snapping it into place.

“Remember to let me know if anything goes wrong with Cassidy tomorrow,” he said as he stood, picking up his mask and adjusting it so it fit snugly over the upper half of his face. “I guess I’ll see you at the party, then.” Luke hesitated before giving her one last tight hug in farewell, and a moment later he had the door open and fired his grappling gun upwards before disappearing from sight.