Log: Complete.

[captainshort.livejournal.com]

When; November 18, post-Inner Child Day.

Rating; PG.

Characters; Eugene Roe (redcrossboy) and Holly Short (captainshort).

Summary; Holly wakes up the morning after her first curse in the City to an unexpected sight.

Log;

Light. That was probably her first thought, and sure enough, many more were to follow in a torrent. But at the moment, it was that there was something ridiculously bright and shining on her face, and it was annoying.With a groan, she rolled onto her side with the aim to burrowing her head under her pillow, except... there was something in the way. What in the world... Without opening her eyes, she nudged the obstruction with a wandering hand and found that it wasn't just any obstruction. It was breathing. Eyes snapping open, Holly winced at the sunlight that greeted her before focusing on the... oh, gods.

"Gene?"

Eugene never slept deeply since the war, because if one couldn't rouse himself immediately, he was dead. He woke with a start at the sound of his name, pulled out of a muddled sleep full of snow. He closed his eyes against the glaring sun, not opening them before he shielded his face with a hand. Then he saw Holly's confused and near-terrified stare. He sat up suddenly, very wide awake.

"What am I..." he began, at first disoriented. Then the previous day's events pushed to the front of his thoughts. "Oh. Right."

Holly raised her brows in disbelief at his words, eyes wide. Her heart was hammering against her chest, and it took quite an effort to not shoot across the bed to the other side. Instead, she did a quick scan of the room, then checked her own clothing (oh thank Frond, I'm decent) before looking back to the tousled medic with the same expression. Mouthing wordlessly for a few moments, Holly was horrified to feel the beginnings of a blush on her cheeks; swallowing roughly, she forced it back, along with her initial surprise, and adopted a nonchalant smile.

"Err. Good morning, I suppose. To what do I owe the pleasure, corporal?"

He rubbed his face, trying to get rid of all the sleep and maybe to stop from laughing at her expression. "Well," he began, climbing slowly out of the bed and stretching, "last night, you wanted me to stay with you, so I did." He couldn't help but shoot her a grin. "I couldn't really say no, considering the day's events."

She blinked at him, trying to comprehend what he was saying. The elf shook her head, running her fingers through her hair and sending it into ruffled spikes as she thought over the past few hours. Frowning, she looked back at him and spoke, curious; "Pardon me if I don't have any bloody idea what you're talking about. Care to fill me in?"

He chuckled a little; of course, it wasn't very nice considering Holly was probably very mortified, but he couldn't help how amusing she looked, embarrassed and slightly ruffled. "Yesterday was a curse day. You acted like a little girl even though you didn't change physically. You wanted me to tell you war stories before bedtime, so I did." His smile was gentler now. "And when I left to go to my own room, you asked me to stay." He examined the bed as if for the first time. "It was a little cramped, you know. I tried to leave you enough space but it was hard. I'm... um," and here his cheeks reddened somewhat, "I'm sorry if you were uncomfortable."

It took quite a bit of strength on her part not to let her jaw just drop with the sheer shock of the moment, the embarrassment, the absurdity of it all. Callused fingers drummed on the mattress top as she mulled over the past events, thinking fast, cheeks darkening as it all suddenly came rushing back with alarming force. Flying. Her Neutrino. Artemis, jumping, giggling, chattering, not shutting up in the slightest, Gene. Telling... stories? When did she -- ? Oh, yes. She remembered that too. She remembered asking. In a movement that could so classically be called a facepalm, Holly did just that, a mix of an embarrassed laugh and groan emerging, muffled, from behind her hand.

"Oh, gods. I can't believe I..." Parting her fingers where they rested over face, a bright hazel eye peeked out at Gene, corner crinkled with a grin. "No, that's fine, I... did I annoy too terribly much? Oh Frond, a child. That was years ago! I didn't -- erm... d'arvit. Reckon that was my first curse, then, wasn't it?"

He watched, nervous, as her expression changed from confusion to shock to utter embarrassment, and he wasn't too sure if he should pat her shoulder or if any foreign touch would send her screaming. So he just stood there at the bedside, scratching at the day-old stubble along his jaw. "No, not too much of a bother," he replied. "You... er... Well, it won't take long to fix the hole in the wall. Other than that incident, nothing too terrifying happened." He glanced at the clock, unsure of what else to say. "You, um... You'll be all right?"

Frowning, Holly drew her knees up under the blanket to rest her chin on them, biting her lip as she thought. It wasn't too bad, if you looked at it the right way. It could've been worse. A lot worse. It was embarrassing, certainly, but she doubted she was the only one affected by it, so she was in the same situation as half the City. She glanced up at the medic with a bit of a grin, shaking her head.

"Just a hole in the wall, then? Not too bad. I'll take your word for it."

She paused at his question, quieting in thought again. Her mouth opened to answer an automatic, "Yes, I'm fine; why wouldn't I be?" except the words were still-born. She'd talked about her father. And her grandfather. How could she have forgotten that? Holly pressed her lips together in a vague grimace, tucking those thoughts and memories away for the moment. Best not say anything about it now. Her expression flickered back to an easy smile, inclining her head to Eugene with a carefree flick of the hand.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course. It's a bit funny, if you think about it now, actually. Thanks." Gods, she hated lying.

One eyebrow shot up, doubtful. "Well, if you say so." He wasn't going to tell her his thoughts on who she was and what she'd said - it was enough of a shock to wake up next to a man, and he didn't want to disturb her even more. But he knew there was far more to her calm and almost offhand attitude than she wanted to express. "I'm going to make breakfast," he told her, heading for the door. "You come eat whenever you're hungry."

Holly bit the inside of her cheek at his expression, raising both brows in response even as she was inwardly cringing. She knew he was perceptive to those sorts of things, what with his experience, background, and basically just who he was. Still, if she wanted to hide it, she would, even if he could see right through that. Maybe he could, but others couldn't. Like Artemis. Oh, Frond, what would he say after yesterday? Holly blinked, snapping out of her thoughts again when he spoke, and she smiled again, nodding.

"I'll just... err, get dressed, then. I'll be right there." Oh dear. Not going well at all. Bloody City.

Getting dressed. That wasn't a bad idea. Eugene looked down at whatever it was he was wearing and decided he shouldn't be walking around in his pajamas. Breakfast would have to wait a few minutes.

Somewhere between shutting his door and changing his clothes, his mind wandered back to the night before. He'd been fine sitting with Holly in bed and detailing the roughest battles and especially the days of recuperation in between missions. It was only when she'd pulled on his shirt and asked him with honest eyes to spend the night - he would not use the phrase "sleep with her" - that he stopped knowing what to do. He caved in, perhaps because it was the thing siblings would do if the younger was frightened, or so he guessed, and had sung her lullabies in his native tongue to help her sleep. He was going to leave after a few minutes, but no, that's not what chance had planned.

When the door shut, Holly mentally counted off five seconds, making sure he was out of earshot. One… How could she had been so stupid? She had sense as a child, why didn’t she lock herself in her bedroom for the day instead? Two… Admittedly, it was rather relaxing to let go for a while, be a bit more carefree, even at the expense of her own dignity. She hadn’t laughed so much in a single day for decades. Three… Maybe she could make it up to him. It wasn’t fair that he made breakfast after all that happened the other day. He put up with her; that was certainly impressive. Holly knew she wasn’t the easiest fairy as a child. Four… Oh gods, but being a child. Da and Granda. She hadn’t thought of them in ages, and now they’re dead. And she said so much… she hadn’t wanted to speak of them, simply because she was worried of revealing too much of herself. Duty came first. Always.

Five.

She promptly dropped her face into her pillow and swore. Loudly.

Eugene heard something muffled through the wall, but only barely. He guessed she was brooding over yesterday's events, and he didn't blame her; he would've too if he'd been in that situation.

He finished in his room and wandered to the kitchen, perusing through the cabinet before settling on pancakes. He set the oven and busied about, throwing occasional glances at Holly's bedroom door to see if she was coming out. He didn't hear anything more either, so when nothing happened even when he'd finished preparing breakfast, he resigned to the fact that he'd eat alone that morning.

Reluctantly, Holly dragged herself from bed and padded over to the chest of drawers set against the wall, rummaging quickly through its contents; she slipped into a pair of old jeans and a dark shirt, not caring for much else. With a sigh, she turned to face the door and steeled herself for facing Eugene. She should apologise. Her attitude earlier was uncalled for, and he was only trying to help.

She turned the knob and walked out, barefoot, towards the kitchen, hair still slicked up into different licks and waves, untamed by an attempted finger-comb. She shot him an apologetic smile as she approached. “Sorry. Didn’t realize how much time passed.” She glanced to the meal assembled and added lightly, “D’you need company?”

His head, bowed over the food, jerked upwards at her entrance. His somber expression split into a grin. "I'd love your company," he replied, pulling a chair out for her. "I thought maybe you'd fallen asleep again," he continued, hoping to smooth out the awkward wrinkles with conversation. He sat opposite her and took a couple of pancakes. "You did sleep well, right?"

Her smile broadened into a grin at his, reassured by it as she took her place at the table, serving herself as he spoke. Reaching for the bowl of fruit to pick out an apple, she paused, laughing a little. "Nah, I didn't. The sun was just a bit disorienting, yeah? I'm still trying to get used to it, instead of the moonlight." Holly looked back at him at his question, smiling fondly as she tossed her apple from one hand to the other, replying in flawless Cajun-French, "Yes, I slept wonderfully." Teasingly, she added, "You have a lovely voice, by the way."

Well, he thought, if she was going to speak to him in his native tongue, he might as well humor her. "That's good to hear," he commented, trying to ignore the warmth growing in his cheeks at her compliment. He focused instead on pouring syrup over his pancakes - not too much, or they'd be too sweet. "Thank you, but I'm a terrible singer. And you," he paused for only a heartbeat, "have beautiful eyes." And this was true.

The apple paused in its motion, caught in her left hand as she blinked at him. Had she heard correctly? She wasn’t certain and was simply too taken-aback to ask him to repeat his words. Not that they really were surprising, no, of course not! It was just that... sweet Frond, but was that an actual compliment? She was the Test Case, one of the Recon jocks, for lack of better word. Blended in with the rest of the males, and here... Well, don’t go dwelling on it, silly elf, he’ll notice you’ve gone silent!

Holly busied herself with a hasty bite into her apple, buying a few extra seconds. Then she took the syrup and poured just a little, eyes downcast on her plate for most of the task before glancing fleetingly at him with a flash of hazel and a grin.

“Merci beaucoup.”

Gene suppressed most of his grin, but the corner of his mouth twisted up anyway. "Pas de quoi."