2.24 - Voice + Spam

[breakingmyheart]

[Private to Chromie]

I need to take a few days off work so I can take care of some friends.

...and I know this wouldn't be the first time. I'm sorry about that.

[Private to Nathan]

So...I know we didn't really get a chance to talk. [Beyond things like 'please move while Creed is immobile' and 'are you seriously not aware that you're bleeding'.]

How are you doing?

[Spam for Megamind]

[Toshiko is, at least, in the hinterlands of 'okay'. She's seen worse than she saw at port and on the Barge - a career at Torchwood's proven useful, in that completely horrible sense - and she suspects that a life in Gotham had the same effect on Edward but she knows that Megamind isn't handling it well. Which she can understand. And it's why she's choosing to stick around.

Right now she's making lunch. Cheese on toast, her own comfort food on the rare occasions that she's bothered with cooking for herself. Insofar as you can call 'bread + cheese + heat source' cooking. Megamind's huddled up with Angus near his idea wall and she knows she's going to join them rather than try to talk him into joining her at the table.

She glances over her shoulder to call over to him.]

Do you want something to drink, Megamind?

Comments

[breakingmyheart]

Yeah.

[She leans the side of her head lightly against his.]

Edward's holed himself up in his cabin for now. I'll be checking up on him.

[megamind]

I know. He didn't post until-- well. And then... [ He might've been emotional doubly because Edward left. And then was a huge turd. And... well. Yes. All of that. ]

[ He finally begins to nibble on the toast, making a little mmm note, because... look, he's hungry and he's not been eating right. ]

He'll come back when he's good and ready.

[breakingmyheart]

Yeah. He will. [She sips her Coke.] You'll just have to make do with me and Angus until then.

[megamind]

[ Angus tilts his head, doing that thing that dogs do with their brows when they'e heard their name, are giving attention to it, but are not moving from the spot where their head is laid. ]

[ Megamind continues to nibble--before he gives in and lets himself eat. He's not exactly been well the last week and food he could eat was very scarce over the port. ]

[ This means he doesn't disagree with her, leaned in, temple against her hair. ]

[breakingmyheart]

[And Toshiko doesn't say anything, not wanting to distract him. He has the slightly hollowed-out look that she recognises from her own not-so-distant past, and she fully intends to keep feeding him high-calorie comfort food and making sure he exercises until he's looking (and hopefully feeling) a bit more normal.

The silence is comfortable, companionable. After Megamind's finished, she offers a crust to Angus for being a good sport and not bothering either of them while they were eating.]

[megamind]

[ Angus wags his nubbin tail, and takes the crust like a good boy. Megamind put a lot into his training, and it showed. He still has all the books Wanda got him, on the subject. ]

[ Megamind enjoys the closeness and the quiet, for a change. No noise, just Tosh and Angus and warmth. ]

If this... all lasts, the three of us... when the two of you graduate, we should leave. Together. Pick a world and go. Whether or not I have my deal.

[breakingmyheart]

[Toshiko stays quiet for a while. It would be so easy to lie for the sake of a quiet life. To tell him he's right, to promise - to save the inevitable argument for another day. And then when she and Edward have graduated, she'll have to tell the truth, and maybe she'll lose them both, and maybe she'll deserve it.]

Megamind, if...if I was finished here I would have left long before you showed up.

[megamind]

You've done a lot of work here. Two inmates. What do you need that we can't get any other way?

[ No judgement, he just wants to know what could keep her here another round. ]

[breakingmyheart]

...to bring someone back to life. Someone who died because of me.

[megamind]

[ Megamind chews his lip. Even if it had been frivolous, he still wouldn't have gainsayed her. ]

Alright then. Revision: once we get our deals, and we're done-- we pick a world, and get out, together.

[breakingmyheart]

[She's honestly surprised it's so easily accepted. But it's a relief, as well, not to have to fight over it.]

...Yes. Alright.

[megamind]

[ He turns his head to kiss her temple. He loves her; it was easy to fall back into those feelings though he rather sometimes wishes it could have been a bit more of a struggle. ]

Good. I like having a plan.

[breakingmyheart]

[Toshiko smiles faintly and tilts her head.]

Mm. They do make life easier.

[When they pan out, anyway.]

[megamind]

Planning is sort of my bread and butter. Scheming too. Edward as well.

[ So you're in for a lot of it, Tosh. But oh, look, tilted faces. He dots her cheek with a kiss, because he can. ]

[breakingmyheart]

What, and you think I don't like having my eventualities covered? This is hardly our first date, Megamind.

[Hell, she was the only one at Torchwood who ever seemed to favour a more solid approach than throwing random crap at the wall to see what stuck.]

[megamind]

Well, I suppose that we'll be able to avoid everything from accidental children to scheduling over anniversaries, at this rate. [ A collection of planners, that's what they are. ]

[breakingmyheart]

[She blushes faintly as she reaches for her Coke.]

Yes, well. If there's one thing I think I can just about manage to avoid, it's getting knocked up.

[megamind]

Well, you only have to worry about one of us being a father, at least. Kids would be nice, though. At least, for a while.

That's supposed to be Deal Number 2.

[ He eyes the ideas above their head, the papers and bits. ]

[breakingmyheart]

[She follows his gaze up, although she already knows what's there.]

It's worth hanging around for. You'd be a good dad.

[And already is, to some extent, but adopting a bratty mob kid isn't quite the same and she knows he'll know what she's getting at.]

[megamind]

Deal one, planet. Deal two, kids. Deal three, interdimensional travel outside the barge.

Got a long way to go, don't we?

[ He nestles in closer, tucking an arm around her now, hand settling on her opposite hip. ]

[breakingmyheart]

[She does much the same, huddling in tight with him. God, she missed this: the simple ease of it, the quiet intimacy.]

I don't think either of us would know what an easy life looked like if it punched us in the face.

We'll manage.

[megamind]

Oh, I know. I know we will.

[ Angus happily snuggled into the pile, draping himself across two laps and trying to makie himself part of the cuddle pile more firmly. ]

Thanks, though. For-- the great dad thing.

[breakingmyheart]

[Toshiko has to admit it took her a while to adjust to Angus - she wasn't much of a dog person previously - but it's fine now, and when he decides she and Megamind are equally comfy she's happy to scratch behind his ears.]

No need to thank me for that, Megamind. But still. You're welcome.

[megamind]

[ Angus loves who Megamind loves -- and loves as unreservedly once he knows who Megamind has claimed. Pack is pack; you don't have to be a werewolf to understand family. ]

[ The alien pats the dog's side, prompting a nubbin wiggle. ]

S'okay. For now this is my family. I'd co-op the line from Lilo and Stitch but there's only so many blue aliens we can allow in here, okay?

[breakingmyheart]

[And this just gets a 'what' look from Toshiko because she has literally no idea what you're talking about, Megamind. How do pop culture.]