hardwearing | [ MEADOWLARK ] IC Inbox

Yeah. Still mad about my hair.

You're usually the one putting the breaks on though. Sort of gave the signal we weren't getting past kissing.

It's growing back.

Oh.

No I definitely want to... get naked. Sometime.
It just gets a little overwhelming?

I'm sorry. I'm not trying to pressure you into anything. I'm happy with what we have.

I've just been trying to figure out if I was the problem there or not.

You're not! And there's not really a problem, definitely not you. It's more like the feedback loop is hard to keep from getting lost in?

Also it's been like... since the Project...

We're both going to be pretty rusty at sex, don't worry.

We don't have to rush anything anyway. If I know you're interested, I can keep waiting until it feels easier for you.

Maybe we should just go for it. It hasn't felt like rushing, just testing the waters.

Play it by ear? I’m comfortable whenever you are.

Well now I'm thinking about it. We can play it by ear.

Deal.

[ a few minutes later, there's another message, after she's finally heard back from maine and has mapped out the route from her workplace to the location he gave her. ]

Going for a walk with ME after work. You okay for a few more hours?

Absolutely. I'll be here when you get home. Are you guys grabbing dinner or should I have something ready for you?

Don't know yet but don't worry about it. I'll make sure I eat.

Okay. I'll see you when you get home, then. Good luck.

Thanks. Don't know yet if I'll need it or not.

I hope you don't, but Maine can be hard to get a read on.

Anyway I'll see you tonight.

[ Hard for people who aren't him, at least. Wash signs off and goes to make himself something to eat, and then probably idly flick through movies he won't watch until Carolina gets home. He's too distracted by their conversation to really focus on anything in particular, but will be waiting up with something playing for background noise.

He isn't worried for her, though. He doesn't know to be. ]

[ wash doesn't hear from carolina again, which isn't unusual for a few hours. but when she's following anything but a set schedule, she does usually remember to message him on her way home, even if it's just outside their apartment building. it's just a little announcement, a warning that their front door will be opening shortly but it's just her, it's safe.

she's got other things on her mind, though, and she forgets the warning until she's already got their door open, wincing at herself with the realization. ]

Hey, David...

[ it's a guilty sounding greeting, for wherever he is in their tiny apartment, as the door closes behind her. while her tone is familiar, she's more visibly tense than she should be to come home and if he gets a look at her, wash can probably figure out why.

there's a little bit of blood speckled down the front of her favourite light blue sweatshirt, bruising across her nose and one cheek that almost definitely means that blood came from a nosebleed. she hasn't bothered to brush the grass stains off of one knee, legs bare under the running shorts she'd had in her locker at work.

and she very decidedly isn't making eye contact with him on her way to the bathroom. ]

[ Wash is sitting on the couch in their little apartment, in full view of the door, so when he hears it open he perks up. Carolina didn't message him... maybe that means things didn't go well with Maine? He doesn't even have time to think it might be something worse before he hears her voice and knows it's worse.

She's tense, spotted with blood and bruises, generally mussed and clearly not looking at him as she beelines for the bathroom.

Wash stands up, eyes wide and alarmed. ]

Hey. Hey, what the hell happened? Carolina, are you okay?

[ He's following her. ]

I'm fine.

[ it's automatic, the way carolina has mostly trained herself out of answering wash here. she's given it as a generic, dismissive answer to so many things over her life that she knows how it can frustrate people around her— and he deserves better than that.

she pulls her sweatshirt off once she's got the light on in the bathroom, but she's not closing the door to shut him out yet. ]

Sparring just got a little heated.

[ and it's not as though she's never gotten hurt training with maine before. she's overworked herself, been overconfident, not paying enough attention to the way he's picked up something new. that's never shaken her this badly. ]

[ All the thoughts of what he wanted to do with her when she got home fly right out of his head as he learns that Maine did this. He's watching carefully as she pulls clothes off, searching for other injuries. And coming the rest of the way into the bathroom because he wants to get a better look at her bruises. ]

He hit you in the face? That's not sparring.

[ He reaches out to turn her towards him, to get a better look, not even thinking about the bond contact would initiate. ]

[ her injuries, it seems, are minimal. a mild bruise or two she didn't have before, ways she moves that mean she either needs to stretch or might be sore in the morning. she did protect herself, as best she could. it could have been a lot worse.

and carolina really doesn't want to talk about it, so wash follows her and she ignores him, planning to just undress and shower and try to forget about what just happened with maine, until he touches her. wash is familiar, by now, with the undercurrent of anxiety that carolina has motivating her so much of the time. he's helped her after nightmares, too, so he knows what it feels like when she's shaken, when memories were just a little too much, the dreams were just a little too real.

afraid is new, though. if there's been flickers of it before, it's never lasted, carolina's never let it last. she's too stubborn for that. but she's panicked and shaken and scared of maine, and her emotions are all so much that she doesn't realize wash is touching her until she feels better, his concern a soothing thing.

which means that he can feel her and there's a rush of guilt as carolina pulls back from him, stepping to the shower, as far into the little room as she can get. ]

[ The rush of fear coming from Carolina is, indeed, something that unsettles Wash deeply. She pulls away quickly, though, stepping into the shower and farther from him and he follows, hesitating at the curtain. Touching it instead of her, his breathing quick and shallow with residual fear. He tries to keep his voice steady when he calls out to her again. ]

Carolina... Carolina, please talk to me. Please.

[ What the fuck happened?!

If he were someone else, or less afraid and worried, he might make a joke about getting naked and following her in if she doesn't answer, but he's not that person. ]

[ she can hear wash struggling with his tone of voice and feels guilty all over again, because that's her fault, even if she didn't mean to share her fear with him. ]

Maine is just... having a hard time.

[ even carolina knows that that's a weak answer, not the clarification wash deserves, but she needs a minute to sort her own thoughts out so she can share them. she gets the shower turned on before the curtain rustles in response to her movement, to the way she drops her head forward to rest against the front wall of the shower so she can take a deep breath. ]

I know what his power is, now. It's not good.

What does that have to do with... I don't understand.

[ He's still not busting in on her in the shower, but it's a close thing. ]

It makes him...

[ wrong is the first word that comes to mind, but she knows it’s not enough and carolina trails off as she tries to find appropriate words, still leaning against the shower wall. ]

It makes him like Sigma made him. He saw me as a threat.

[ Just hearing Sigma's name makes Wash's blood run cold, and he's quiet for a long stretch, before asking. ]

Can I come in?

[ the answer takes a long time to come, because carolina has to talk herself out of it being “no.” there’s not nearly enough space to avoid touching wash in here, and touching wash means wash has to feel all the sickening feelings she feels, when she just wants to protect him from them. afraid of what maine is capable of isn’t a feeling she’d wish on anyone from freelancer, least of all him.

but he’s trying to help and she’s been trying not to shut him out, so she adjusts the water temperature, makes it a little less scalding as she rinses her face off. ]

Yeah, you can.

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cw some blood + minor injuries

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