yelena (notaposer) wrote in noexits, @ 2022-08-19 17:18:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread/narrative, marvel (tv/movies): yelena belova, original character: hugh christian, → week 042 (pilot - the lonely city) |
LONELY CITY (WEEK 42, BACKDATED) | DAY 5 (EVENING)
Sometime in the last twenty-four hours Yelena had decided that, in spite of a rocky and confusing start, this week wasn’t actually all that bad. Strange, definitely. But not dangerous in the conventional sense and not nearly as boring as she thought it might be at the beginning of the week, so on Yelena’s personal grading scale this was miraculously turning out to be a notch above average, with room for improvement once she finally managed to free up a block of time big enough to allow her to break into Natasha’s garage. Her early afternoon had been spent following up on a phone call - without thinking she’d answered a call after breakfast, expecting it to be Joshua. She’d just drawn a sharp breath to start unleashing on him before she was beaten to the punch: not by Joshua, but a different, slightly distorted male voice that droned instructions for a dead drop location before the person on the other end hung up abruptly.They’ll call you when they need you, her card had said at the beginning of the week. Apparently she was needed now. First a movie premiere, now a job. Once she discovered the message - which took longer than it ought to have since the streets in this city continued to insist on making no sense - she wandered long enough to deposit the shredded pieces of the letter into no fewer than five different public garbage bins before taking a trip back to city hall for a fresh set of blueprints. The job was a little more cat burglar than assassin, but she wasn’t going to turn her nose up at something to do. So the evening found her draped akimbo in one of Hugh’s armchairs with one leg hanging over an arm of the chair and a plate of assorted cheeses balanced on that knee, a glass of wine in one hand, and the blueprints for what was turning out to be a very generic, boring penthouse spread over the rest of her lap. “This is going to be too easy,” she murmured to herself before taking a sip of wine from the glass. “I think I’m being insulted.” Hugh needed a glass of wine because the last twenty-four hours or so felt a little like whiplash. He couldn't help but wonder if he'd feel differently about it if it had happened more naturally, instead of it just being thrust upon him at the beginning of the week. If he'd signed on to a role in a semi-major franchise, knowing it would boost his public presence significantly, it maybe wouldn't have been quite as much of a shock when it boosted his presence as significantly as it had. The film he'd gone to see had actually not been terrible. Standard romcom sure, but it wasn't full of straight people, so extra bonus points, plus Hugh loved a rom com, and this one had its moments of fun witty banter, and decent chemistry, and it wasn't maybe going to ever be When Harry Met Sally levels of classic, but it wasn't cringe. And there'd been only a brief weird moment when it wasn't his wife on his arm, but rather Yelena, but he'd enjoyed it and he had to admit she probably played the part with more ease than his wife was ever likely to. And that had all been fine. Even the part where he'd woken up to alerts with red carpet pictures and speculation. Hugh knew enough to know that sort of thing came with the territory, and he was quietly starting to make calculations accordingly, even though it had only been a few days. Which perhaps made the thing from this morning all the more irritating. He stared at the headline, closed the laptop, and exited his bedroom for the living space. It wasn't a particular surprise to see Yelena there, and he'd agreed that she could stay, but he'd also mentioned she should talk to Joshua. He might be a fake whatever, but obviously he was real enough that he was willing to cause a scene at Coffee Cravings. He clocked her glass of wine and headed for one of his own, uncorking the bottle before he turned his attention to her. "I thought you were going to talk to Joshua?" Watchful as she constantly tended to be, it wasn’t that state of alertness that had Yelena looking up when Hugh came into the room from the bedroom. It couldn’t be anyone but him after all, and since she’d decided that this place held little threat to them both, the only reason she had for diverting her attention away from her plans was that she felt compelled to pay attention when he was around. It was something she refused to think too long or too hard about, and she wasn’t afforded much of a chance to now in any case. His beeline toward the bottle of wine she’d opened wiped the smile from her face to replace it with a furrow between her eyebrows. She stretched her arm out long to rest her wine glass on a side table, then transferred the plate to the same table before batting the blueprints off of her lap in favor of twisting around to kneel on the armchair’s cushion, her elbows resting on the back of the chair as she watched him in the kitchen. “What?” She’d heard, but the question was so outside of what she’d expected that it was instinct to ask. Waving a hand to dismiss it, she made a quiet noise of frustration at her own reaction and then tilted her head slightly to study him a moment longer. “I did talk to him, what are you even talking about? That first afternoon, remember? You have an interview, I have a strange boyfriend to go break up with.” She knew the week had been a strange one for him, but… surely he remembered that much. She rocked more of her weight into the back of the armchair until she felt its balance start to get to the very edge of being precarious. After peering at him for another few seconds like she was going to manage to read the answers on his face, she huffed a quiet laugh because what other reaction was there? “What about him, anyway?” Hugh did remember that she'd said she would and he'd assumed she did. It wasn't like Joshua meant anything to her, and maybe he was being unfair - like, it was possible that she had talked to him and maybe Joshua was just one of those dudes. He reached for a glass, and filled it, probably a little more than was strictly speaking necessary, and recorked the bottle. "Because he seems to think you're still together?" He pointed out, trying not to be upset about it. If she said she'd talked to him then Hugh believed her, but also he was currently all over the tabloids in this city as a guy who was dating a married woman, and he just looked like the jerk in that scenario (never mind the ridiculous aspect of he was technically the married man who was dating another woman, and he might also look like the jerk in that scenario). He sighed, and reached for the wine and downed a long sip before he put his hand on the back of his neck to try to work some of the tension out. It was just this weird week and it didn't matter. Anyone from Derleth who saw it knew Yelena wasn't married, and anyone here wouldn't be here next week. Probably. He reached for the wine, and came around the counter to the other side, settling against it, which was probably further away than he needed to be, but the constancy of feeling like he was a specimen in a cage was beginning to get to him. "Have you not been on the Internet? He tracked me down when I went to get coffee this morning, and I think I can definitely say that he thinks you're still together - as does the whole of the City now." With the space between them suddenly feeling like a mile and subject matter that was a good deal more serious than she’d been prepared for when Hugh came into the room, Yelena decided meeting this discussion while draped over the back of a chair wasn’t going to cut it. And moving gave her another few seconds of silence to shove down the immediate spike of anger that jammed itself into her gut until she could feel her pulse jump faster because of it. So she eased back off of the chair to move to stand beside it instead, arms folded loosely across her chest. “I told you I was going to talk to him the first day and I did,” she finally answered, her words so carefully measured that it made her voice sound flat. “I promised no lies.” And that, she suddenly realized, was the reason for that flare of anger. He hadn’t accused her of lying, but it definitely felt like he had. Before she spoke again she drew in a deep breath and forced her shoulders to drop, then reached for her glass of wine so she could take a sip and give things at least the appearance of a casual conversation. “I went to the apartment that day. I got some of my things together and was packed when he came back so I was ready to leave when I told him I was leaving. He didn’t like that so much, he tried talking me out of it, but I told him no and I walked out to come back here.” She considered another drink, but put the glass down before she did more than look down at the red liquid inside of it. “You think I control what he thinks? I tell him no, I get a million more texts, I ask him to leave me alone. He doesn’t, I block him. What else am I supposed to be doing to get the point across for him?” Finding herself unable to stand still, Yelena turned on a heel and paced back a few steps before wheeling around and stalking back to where she’d started from. “I was doing things today so I never looked at anything. But why do I need to be on the internet when you’re right here to tell me something happened?” Arms crossed in front of her again, she ventured forward a few slow steps and narrowed her eyes just slightly as she studied his face. “...he didn’t try fighting you, did he?” And just like that Hugh felt like an asshole. Had he really doubted that Yelena had talked to him? He couldn't say. He didn't think so. And the fact that she had done so and Joshua had continued to text her raised a quick flash of anger, because maybe it was Hugh who needed to go after him and tell him to back the fuck down, never mind that Joshua seemed like the type of guy who could pack a punch and Hugh was only good at heroic stunts on stage - a fact Derleth had pushed home several times during his weeks here. In retrospect he maybe should have stated that more clearly at the moment than it felt like he had in his memories, but in his defense he hadn't been expecting to be yelled at in the line at a coffee shop. He was just barely getting used to being approached for autographs and photos when he was out. He let out a frustrated sigh, although not so much at her as at himself, or at the situation, even though that distinction wasn't likely clear to Yelena and he downed another sip of the wine before he put the glass down. "No, he just yelled at me about you not even waiting one day and that you won't even talk to him now. I gathered he saw the red carpet pictures and decided that I was the reason you took off at the first of the week. I should have said something earlier, I think I just assumed it would blow over, and I kind of forgot about the fact that my entire life is its own storyline to this city now. So now I'm the guy who broke up some other guy's marriage- I guess. "I'm not - I'm just -" Hugh raised a hand and ran it through his hair, despite the fact that it would leave his curls out of place because he didn't even know how to finish that sentence. Now he felt like a bad guy two ways: in the eyes of the tabloids - which, Hugh would say didn't matter (even if it also kind of did), but now also to Yelena, which did matter more, significantly more. He didn't want to look like he was the type of guy who would steal someone else's girlfriend or wife, for fucks sake, but he also didn't want to be the type of guy who wouldn't believe the person he was with which it occurred to him it probably sounded like he was that guy. But he couldn't go back and start this conversation over, he was stuck now. "I'm sorry, Yelena. It's not your fault," he finally stated. It wasn't the best recovery maybe, but at least he could make it clear he believed her right now. "You said you were leaving, and you haven't been responding to texts, and you blocked him, a reasonable person would get the hint." The relief that registered on Yelena’s face washed away almost immediately as Hugh detailed what exactly had happened at the coffee shop. The word ‘marriage’ had her jerking her chin back like someone had just taken a swing at her, her disbelief showing immediately before she let loose a sharp note of laughter. “Who says it was marriage?!,” she questioned incredulously, holding up both of her hands with her palms turned toward her chest and fingers splayed to demonstrate the distinct lack of a ring. “He was only a boyfriend this stupid place gives me. And who even cares if it tries to say to me that he’s my dumb husband?” She flexed her hands into fists strong enough they shook for a moment, wishing desperately that she had something to actually hit. Joshua, if she had her choice. With a frustrated growl, she dropped her hands to her sides and splayed her fingers out again before taking a few breaths, working her jaw in an effort to try evening herself out again. This was all getting to be too much - she’d barely had much of a chance to figure out this relationship with Hugh and now another one had managed to wedge itself into place, unintended and unwanted and entirely more problems than it could ever have been worth even if she had entered into it on purpose. “You know he’s not. Everybody who knows us knows that too. So who cares what the people in this city think about something totally wrong? For all we know they’re a bunch of robots and we definitely never have to see them again after the end of this week. For all we know he is too and he only reacts like this because the only thing he knows is he was supposed to be my boyfriend.” She dropped her chin and shook her head, feeling some of the anger seep out of her with a droop of her shoulders. “I know it’s not my fault.” There was no accusation to it, no hurt. Just a statement in agreement of facts, because amongst all the uncertainty she had she at least knew that much was true. “What do you want me to do? I can go find somebody probably waiting outside for one of us to come out and tell them that he’s a crazy person. Or that you didn’t break up anything because I was the one who did the breaking up with him.” She brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose and close her eyes briefly, then abruptly swept her hair up into a messy twist on the top of her head, securing it with the hairband around her wrist now that it felt much too stuffy in this apartment. “I have no ideas why it all matters. I’m sorry he found you.” Yelena made entirely too much sense and it was irritating. Because she was right, anyone who mattered knew, and the city was probably just another weird Derleth trip. Hugh released his breath, trying to ease some of the tension out of his shoulders. He closed his eyes, not exactly counting to ten, but it was a similar vibe. “I know people know that, I just don’t like the idea of.” He stopped. It didn’t matter. And maybe this wasn’t even entirely about this. Maybe it was partially because anyway he looked at this, there were complications, and those would remain next week even if the city didn’t. Hugh had a headache. He reached for the wine again but rather than immediately taking a sip he stepped away from the counter and towards the sofa which he sank down into, now taking a sip and setting the glass down on the table in front of him. “What if it’s not just this week, Yelena. What if, as weird as this whole thing is, we actually succeed in not resetting? And.” Okay. It shouldn’t matter though. He slipped fingers behind his neck seeking to loosen the tension. “I don’t know. You don’t need to do anything. I don’t really think you can. I think, like a general rule of thumb? Don’t stoke the flames, let them dwindle out. I don’t have any more appearances this week I don’t think. At least there’s nothing on my calendar. So we’ll just, you know, let someone else be the popular story for a few days. So we just slip under the radar and I’m sure people will forget about it. It’s okay. It doesn’t matter.” Yelena planted her hands on her hips and ducked her head as Hugh moved away from the counter and toward the couch, frowning down at the floor until she heard him sink into the cushions. She didn’t turn immediately after, instead opting to close her eyes and tilt her head back so her face was turned up to the ceiling. She remained there, unmoving except to pull her bottom lip in to worry at it with her teeth, until Hugh declared that it didn’t matter. That statement had her releasing her lip with a quiet but audible pop and an exhale so long it felt like it pulled every last bit of air from her lungs. It helped, somehow, to bring her a level-headedness that had been escaping her for most of the duration of this conversation. She opened her eyes and looked at the ceiling for a second or two before turning to move behind the couch, her hands immediately moving to Hugh’s shoulders to seek out the tension he’d been rubbing at since going into the kitchen. If she was a little more on the aggressive side than she was the gentle one when she found a spot under her fingertips, well… surely there was something to be said for a deep tissue massage. “If we don’t reset then we handle it. Together, yes? Unless you say to me you want to do it alone.” She sounded as matter of fact and reasonable as she had before, but she paused just long enough with her hands still on his shoulders to be noticeable before she picked up again. “I probably should have killed him.” Dark humor was too much a habit for her to realize that it might not be the time for it until after she’d spoken the words - once it dawned on her that a joke like that might be out of line, she squeezed his shoulders as reassuringly as she could manage to after having just make a light-hearted comment about killing someone. “I’m kidding, I kid.” She cast a glance around the living room, at first hoping she could cajole Shadow into coming over to do a better job of comforting Hugh than she could hope to. When her attention fell on the blueprints she’d been looking at, however, she froze once again with her hands on his shoulders. “...what if I tell you I might know another story people would talk about? It’s not really the same kind of story, but people love crime. Right? The true crimes are all… I don’t know, sexy and popular now?” It wasn't exactly true that it didn't matter. But Hugh didn't actually know how to explain that it did without just sounding like a shallow jerk. It was just tabloids and gossip papers. It was part of being famous, right? Taylor Swift's whole 'there will just be reputation' thing, and maybe he should just let it be. It shouldn't matter maybe, and he worried at his own lower lip for a minute, until her fingers found his shoulders, and he winced initially, but even though she wasn't exactly being gentle it did help. He'd let himself worry over for most of the day, feeling as if he just looked bad to the entire city, and it had worked tension up into his muscles. And if a touch of that tension worked its way back up when she suggested killing her - possibly pod person - boyfriend, well she had her hands on his shoulders. But he managed a bit of a laugh. "It probably won't reset, I'm being ridiculous. But let's not kill anyone. It's bad enough that I'm a homewrecker, I'm sure they'd figure out how to turn me into a potential murderer too." He closed his eyes for a moment, and then he looked back over his shoulder, and tilted his head. "You realize the last movie I did at home was a true crime based story?" He offered a smile and a nod. An invitation to come around, to join him on the sofa, to maybe stay a little bit closer to him. "Tell me a story, darling." Yelena finished the massage by pressing the pads of her thumbs to either side of his spine at the join of his neck and shoulders, then dragging them upward with pressure to the base of his skull. Through it, she frowned faintly at the wall opposite them - not because of anything he’d said or anything she was doing, but because of the response she had to bite back about him being a homewrecker. The whole week would’ve been almost perfect, pod people and general Derleth strangeness notwithstanding, if she’d just woken up here instead of in the apartment with Joshua. But then again, waking up anywhere but in a bed with a stranger would have been better, so maybe it wasn’t worth the mention after all. She looked down when he turned to her and gave him a smile of her own, feeling a little more settled now that the tension between them seemed to have dissipated for now. Before moving, she leaned in to kiss his temple, then stepped to the side so she could hop up onto her toes and sit on the back of the couch before swiveling her legs around (away from him, to keep from kicking him in the head) and sliding down to sit beside him. “Then see, true crime is sexy and popular.” Yelena gave him a grin, then leaned over him to retrieve her own glass of wine. “So it isn’t killing anyone, which… good news for that, right? But I realized everybody got that card with a job so I found mine when I went back that first day and it said only that somebody would call me when they need me. I got a call this morning.” Which hopefully explained what she’d been busy with earlier. She kicked one foot up to rest on the coffee table and swapped her wine glass to that hand so she could rest it on top of her knee, linking her now free arm through his. “I don’t really know who I work for but that’s not so weird doing the things I do, and they want me to steal some things from this rich person I think across the town. Anyway,” she breezed, bringing her wine glass back to her lips for another sip as if the conversation were about the weather and not grand theft, “I still stay under the radar because I’m very good at my job, and it’s the kind of thing people love talking about. It could work for a story, don’t you think?” Hugh scoffed but there was a smile on his face as he did. He didn’t think he automatically made true crime sexy or popular and besides which the whole filming experience had been anything but sexy in a lot of ways but he would take it at the moment. Anything to not be thinking about the whispers at the coffee shop that morning. The City was strange, but even pod people were pod people. He listened to what she was saying and his eyebrows raised: “your solution is to rob from a rich person and create news to take away from this news?” It might work, but he also didn’t know how he felt about it. On some level he supposed he knew what she did. But knowing and like knowing weren’t the same thing. “What kind of rich person? Like Bezos rich?” “Yeeeeees? This is exactly my solution?” Yelena didn’t seem to quite understand the reason behind him looking surprised by the suggestion, so she ducked her head to peer at him with a questioning look before she waved a hand in a generalized circle off to the side. “This is how the news works, yes? A thing happens, it’s such a big deeeal because everybody talks about it, but once another thing is in the news nobody remembers about the first thing at all. So all we need is another thing.” She knew she was placing a lot of faith in the intersection of people who found their drama with Joshua interesting and people who would be fascinated by a high profile robbery. But she also knew she was going to do the job whether it helped the two of them or not, so it really couldn’t hurt to hope, could it? Everybody could win. Well, except for whoever it was she was stealing from. After one more sip from her glass of wine, she leaned forward to set hers next to his and then slouched back onto the couch, head lolled against the back cushion and tilted just enough that it almost rested against his shoulder. “I don’t even know who it is and even if I did, it isn’t like we know the names of anybody already in this city for it to matter. Besides, this isn’t the kind of thing you ask questions about. I get a location and a thing to take and I do it, you know what I mean?” She cut a glance over to the blueprints, then up at Hugh’s face. “Probably that rich, though. I mean only somebody super rich has things just sitting around in their place worth millions of dollars, so I think I say definitely that rich.” Hugh suspected that probably he shouldn't just be sitting here and talking about the fact that Yelena was planning to rob someone, but also, it occurred to him that he was taking things too seriously in a City where there were no maps, he was the major celebrity event, and they probably would be somewhere completely different next week. He reached his fingers up to his temple and shook his head. "Well, if it's someone who is Bezos rich," he shrugged with a smirk, not that she knew. Not that he did, and what did it matter? For all he knew the City created someone for Yelena to rob, just like they had created a whole damn movie that he'd acted in. More than one, actually. And he had the posters and interviews and magazine covers and movie premieres to prove it. "Will you wear some sort of like, I don't know - I have this picture in my head from - what was the name of that Television show? I can't remember. Jessica Alba, she robbed things, like, in Seattle. But post-apocalyptic Seattle. Kind of. Anyway - this is the picture I have in my head. It's very sexy, so I suppose you're right about that part of the true crime anyway." He shifted slightly, enough to pull them definitely closer together. Because the thing was, it was just this week. It wasn't forever. He didn't need to worry about it? And what did he care what pod people thought anyway? He shouldn't. He was reacting to this like it was real, and none of it was. But Yelena? She was real. So, focus on the thing in front of him. He was good with that when it came down to it. What Yelena wanted to do was roll her eyes. What she ended up actually doing was shooting him a fond, amused look for a moment before she shook her head and slapped lightly at his thigh, immediately trying to erase the evidence of that look on her face. “Shut uuuuuup,” she teased with a laugh, slouching down lower on the couch at the same time she let his shift in position lean her weight more in his direction. “I have no idea what show you mean but I know you’re doing flattery right now.” Still, he wasn’t too far off base. “I do have a suit for stealth, though. And it’s probably the kind of thing you think of? Anyway, it’s here. I can show it to you before I go do the job so you can tell me if it’s like the one you see in your head with Jessica Alba.” For a moment she was tempted to suggest that she could pretend to break in here after the job was done, but not only did it feel unnecessary and show off-y, she knew she’d probably give him a heart attack when she succeeded. So she simply gave him a smile and relaxed back into the couch, though the hand she reached to drop on his knee paused a moment in mid-air when something occurred to her. “...you know this is harder with people knowing my face? Weird. This never happens before.” After another second of thought, she simply shrugged as best she could and let her hand fall the last couple of inches. “It’s okay. I promise nobody sees me, cross my heart and hope to die. And I drop the goods off before I even come back here.” As always, it seemed like nothing out of the ordinary for her - a fact she drove home with another smile at him and an upward lift of one shoulder. “So do you want to watch a movie or something? Or make dinner or… whatever you want, since I guess we shouldn’t be going out right now.” Hugh laughed. "I don't know what you're talking about, I never do flattery." But he was smiling again, and she was down next to him, and he did feel better, actually. "Yes, please, I want to see it." Although he paused, reaching for the wine,as there was a sort of worry that slipped in. If people did recognize her, would there be trouble? "Do you have a hood? Or a mask? I mean, it's hard to recognize you if you're all covered up, and so long as your suit isn't a gorgeous orange dress…" He trailed off with a quick smile, although the worry lingered in his eyes. "When you successfully complete it, if we have time, we should do a brunch, and fuck the paparazzi." But maybe not tonight. He didn't feel like giving them more… anything. "How do you feel about pasta?" He asked. "I could make some, and we could watch a movie. Presumably I don't have any other outings so we could have comfort carbs. And I have enough cheese, we could do all sorts of things." With as concerned as Hugh has seemed about the bad publicity that Joshua’s stunt had earned them, Yelena wasn’t sure whether his concern now was for her own well-being or so the potential for her getting caught didn’t compound matters. She decided to go with the former because she wanted to believe the better option, which meant it was just adorable that he had no idea just how skilled she was. Definitely the preferable option. So she smiled because he had, leaning in to kiss his cheek in an effort to rid him of that worry she could see lingering behind it all. “My orange suit got left at home, so you’re lucky all I have is the black one. And I do have a hood.” Not that she’d planned on wearing it because she was confident in how easy this job would be, but if it made him feel better, well… maybe she ought to make peace with compromises like this one. Having more than just herself to worry about was definitely a new wrinkle. The idea of celebratory brunch made her smile turn delighted, though. “Let’s. It’ll be fun.” Though as much fun as causing another scene sounded, pasta and a movie was only a tiny bit less so. “Oh my god, is it time for weird mac and cheese?” Maybe it wasn’t less exciting than causing a scene after all. “I feel very good about pasta. And even better about cheese and the rest of this wine. Come on,” she enthused, hopping to her feet before turning to offer him both of her hands. “I’ll watch you boil water.” He took her hands, and stood, pulling up to his feet and he leaned in to press his forehead down to hers trying to figure out how it was that nothing at Derleth felt entirely real, and yet at the same time, certain things could feel so very real. "It's time for weird mac and cheese," he told her, pulling back and his eyes lighting up. "We're going to listen to music, and dance in the kitchen. That's what time it is. Music opinions, or are we straight up going with Taylor Swift because I'm picking?" |