interstellar5555 | NO FEAR [OPEN]

Who: Steven and anybody in the Defying Atmosphere penthouse.
What: Greg is rewarded with a slightly used pet child.
When: About 24 hours after the SC concert where he gets kidnapped.
Where: DA's penthouse in Virgo HQ.
Warnings: There is a laundry list of things wrong with this situation.

No matter the intention, the violence of being kidnapped leaves a mark on a person, and that's the lingering anxiety that Steven feels now. He was pulled away from his life once again, as terrible as it might have been. He was manhandled, drugged, and dragged off somewhere else, even as he pleaded, for fear of angering his keepers again.

There was a period of claustraphobic darkness followed by a time where blinding white is all he can remember. And then, suddenly, he finds himself here...a penthouse that is totally unfamiliar to him, and is told that he's going to be with his dad now.

He doesn't know if he can believe it, or what he should do. So, once he's left alone, all he does is curl himself up on one of the couches and wait. He's been dressed in fresh clothing, simple in comparison to anything he's made a habit of wearing - the flashes of pink cracklines are still bright on his exposed skin.

He has no control over anything anymore. He may as well stop pretending.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I am still confused on how it is all possible... but I understand you are Greg's son." Greg had been open and honest with her, and she had accepted that. She now extended the same basic acceptance to Steven in turn.

"We're not from here," he says, simply enough. He knows that much now, and right now it comes out as a casual explanation. He still looks nervous - he knows what Meril is to Greg, and he doesn't want to be an obstacle.

"I'm Steven," he says, shyly.

"It's nice to finally meet you properly. Given... everything that has happened, it was long overdue." A faint touch of color in her cheeks showed that Meril still felt a bit embarrassed about discussing it publicly, even as that didn't seem to stop her.

Steven finally starts to relax a little, settling down onto the couch again. He looks up at her, his curiously gradually exceeding his anxiety.

"Dad said that you and he were...dating," he says, the last part in a hush, as if respecting her privacy.

Meril took a seat on the couch as well -- lightly, barely on the edge. She didn't want to infringe on his space.

"We are," she said, as if imparting a great secret. Though it wasn't one at all. "But he told me about you before we started."

Like three minutes before but that wasn't the point.

"He did?" He doesn't seem to mind her sitting down at all. It's nicer than her standing over him, anyway. He isn't threatened, but this feels more personable. "And...it's okay?"

The second question is delayed. He doesn't know how having a teenaged son affects his 22 year old father's dating life.

She wasn't exactly tall enough to loom, but even so.

"I see no reason it should not be. As confusing as this whole situation is, it does not change who he is. And that is what I value in him. He is a good man... and he proves that by caring about you, as well as me."

Steven curls his legs so that he's sitting a little closer to her, watching her with increasing interest through his weird glowing eyes. He smiles, in apparent approval.

"I'm glad that you can look after him, too. I'm sorry that...that I'm not very good a that."

"We look after each other." The street was two-way. Meril relied on Greg much as she relied on him. "And I will help look after you, to the best of my ability."

She wouldn't pretend she had any real skill in it, of course. But she would try.

In what feels like sort of an impulsive movement, he reaches out to try to take her hand in his. He wants to show his acceptance somehow, and that's the only thing he can think to do.

"Thank you," he says.

Meril accepted the gesture, turning her hand to clasp his. Smiling came easier to her these days, in large part because of Greg. Was her desire to protect someone important to her boyfriend really so surprising, in that light?

"You are welcome. Greg taught me that two people are stronger together than they are apart. So three people must naturally be stronger together than two, right?"

"Yeah..." he says softly, his mind buzzing with the idea. It's not something he's ever valued in the life they gave him here, but in his memories...it's everything. "It's...like a family, right?"

Does Meril has a family here? Probably not. None of them really do.

"Yes, I think it is."

No, Meril had no one she could call a family. Not in this life. Not in her other.

"Something sorely missing until now."

He smiles a little more broadly. Ah, heck - he can't control the urge.

He leans over to give her a hug.

Smiling, Meril returned the hug. Though small, she was all hard muscle and solid strength.

"Will you be staying with us long?"

He doesn't answer until he's pulled away a little. He seems genuinely uncertain, and at least a little bit concerned.

"I...I don't know. I don't think they want me to go back." He glances away. "They just kind of...took me."

"Oh. That does complicate things." And it meant she might be called upon to protect him quite directly, didn't it?

NO FEAR [OPEN]

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