stykera | MHA #4, Thursday Night

Entry tags:

mha #4,
summer

MHA #4, Thursday Night

Summer had gotten them back to Fandom almost immediately after Stark had retrieved the portal gun after their arcade adventure.

She'd gotten in to the shower almost immediately to wash off the bits of alien still stuck to her. Stark, having not fallen onto any people who exploded all over him, was just sitting on the couch waiting for her to emerge.

She was fine. Everything had turned out fine. He knew that. He also knew he had no desire to be alone tonight. He needed to reassure himself that everything truly was fine. Until he could do that he was just going to pet Pancakes who was being very accommodating while occupying far more space on the couch than a single cat ought to be able to manage.

[Ginger Not-Girlfriend and apartment modded with permission, of course.]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Summer had taken a bit longer in the shower than strictly necessary, not because the disgustingly delicious alien blood had been difficult to wash off or anything like that, but because she found herself constantly staring at her wrist where she knew Rick's chip was and thinking about how he claimed it was deactivated, and how she didn't believe that for a second, and why was he playing that particular mindgame with her now, and maybe Tony might have a way to check and see if it was true or not, and oh god, she needed to just stop thinking about it, this was how he got to. Forget planting tracking chips, that guy planted ideas into your head and then they lived rent free...

But, eventually, she did emerge, wrapped in one of her pink fluffy robes and toweling off her hair to help it dry a little.

"Hey," she said. "....Sorry about all of that. I swear to god, usually when I go to that place, it definitely doesn't get taken over by terrorists obsessed with 80s action movies, but that's what I get for trying to go somewhere right before Christmas, I guess."

"Come sit," Stark said, patting the couch where Pancakes had left a little bit of room. His lap was, of course, also an option.

"You don't need to apologize. You didn't do anything to cause any of it. I'm just...glad you're all right. You are, aren't you?"

Summer nodded. "I am," she assured him, then rolled her eyes a little. "If that's what doing a Die Hard is, I don't see what the big deal is, it was super easy, like those guys were almost as bad at shooting people as stormtroopers are..."

She looked at the couch....and more specifically the cat sprawling over it and stretching her legs and then looking over her shoulder with her eyes wide and innocent at Summer and she shook her head. "Come on, Pancakes," she said, reaching down to nudge the stretched-out stomach a little, "move."

With a petulant but magnanimous mrrorw, Pancakes shifted, affording Summer one more whole inch on the couch.

"....thanks, asshole," she said, and then promptly reminded Pancakes of who was the bigger species in this relationship, picked her up, and set her on the far end the couch and then plopped down next to Stark before Pancakes had the chance to reclaim the territory. She sighed, dropping the damp towel into her lap, and looked over at Stark.

"Thanks for keeping an eye on Morty through all that, too," she said, "I really appreciate it. You didn't get shot or anything, either, though, did you? Not even a little, right?"

Stark shifted a little to make room for her. He had to make sure there was space available for any snuggling that might be required.

"Not even a little," he confirmed. "I promise. I did get shot by a stormtrooper the once. When we went to help Rey, last year. But not this time. Not even a little. They shot at me, once? But nothing hit me. And nothing hurt Morty. I wouldn't have let them."

"Was the stormtrooper trying to hit something else?" Summer had to ask, although she was thinking she vaguely remembered that. Was that where the whole 'shot, a little' bit came from? Or was that a different time he got shot but only a little? Summer shook her head a little, pulling the hair tie from her wrist so she could start putting her still-a-little-damper-than-she'd-like-but-whatever hair up off her neck.

"And I don't know if I'd say nothing hurt Morty," she added, maybe a little bitterly, "but that's a topic for another time. I'm just glad it's over. I think I gotta start looking into more places to go outside of my home dimension, though..."

That was exactly where being shot, a little came from!

"I think they were trying to hit me," Stark said, frowning. "Rey's friend got me onto the ship and out of harm's way. Finn."

"I could help, with your hair, if you wanted," he offered, watching her. He could brush it out. Or comb it. Or just play with it.

"And...yes. Maybe different places to go. We'll find somewhere nice, for another time. Or I could take you back to your spa? Somewhere without your grandfather and without anyone needing you to do a Die Hard or anything else. Maybe...somewhere warm."

Summer, who had pretty much been wearing her hair in a ponytail every day of her life since she was fifteen, stopped mid-ponytailing to just sort of look at Stark and his offer to 'help.'

With the thing she could do practically blindfolded and in her sleep.

She sighed and let her hair back down again, running a hand through it a little and turning her back toward Stark and holding out the hairtie for him.

"Yeah, okay," she said, "why not?

"And honestly," she said, "somewhere warm and poolside with a bar sounds like a good way to go right about now..."

Stark needed it more than she did. He was reassuring himself they were both here and safe and nobody had been eaten or shot or kidnapped by space terrorists.

He ran his fingers through her hair carefully, gently removing a few small tangles as he went. He took his time, wanting to be sure there were no small knots or remaining tangles before very carefully lifting it back off her neck and sliding the hair tie around the ponytail.

"There."

He let his hand linger on her shoulder, rubbing his thumb against the base of her neck gently.

"I was worried. I know I said that and I know that maybe I needn't have been but I was and now...now I'm just glad you're here. We're here. Safe and home and able to talk about somewhere warm, with a pool and a bar."

And that was, yes, ultimately, what she realized had been the reason for him asking, and why Summer acquiesced and let Stark take his time in putting her hair up for her, and reminding herself that at least that was one thing she had over the dead girlfriend, hair for him to brush through and put up and take comfort in, and maybe she took a little bit of comfort in that, too.

"God," she said quietly, "if it was nerdy fanboys LARPing as terrorists that finally managed to do me in, I would not be happy abput it."

Summer had another very important advantage. Summer was alive and here.

"I wouldn't be either," Stark said quietly but firmly. "And they didn't."

He brought his other hand up to her shoulder and gently tugged so she could lean back against his chest if she wanted to.

"You're fine. We both are. And no one is still trapped in any video games and we didn't even blow up the building."

Edited 2023-12-22 03:02 (UTC)

It still kind of tripped Summer up sometimes, really, that there were people who actually would care, if something happened to her, beyond reasons like losing a good fallback for doing a Die Hard when you needed one. Enough so that she let herself be gently pulled down against Stark's chest, shifting a little against him until she finally settled into a comfortable spot, and grabbing his hand to pit his arm around her a little more.

"Honestly," she said, tilting her head back to look at Stark a little, "the collateral damage on that one was pretty minor, compared to what we usually have to deal with..."

There were plenty of people on this island who would care. Stark was hardly exceptional in that way.

"It was," Stark agreed, relaxing a little as Summer settled herself. "It's easier to see that now than it was earlier."

He'd been so worried. The way he tightened his arm around her a little more was a result of that residual worry. So, perhaps, was the very gentle kiss to her forehead when she turned a little. He wanted to do more than that but holding her was good, for now.

"At least for us." The arcade had insurance for that sort of thing though, right? And the space terrorists had had it coming. Especially Jons.

"Still. I think we should try not to repeat it."

There was no reason to Die Harder. Or Die Hard With a Vengeance. Or find A Good Day to Die Hard. Or even to Live Free or Die Hard. But surely space terrorists wouldn't repeat themselves like that 4 more times! What self-respecting terrorist franchise organization would do such a thing?

"Yeah," said Summer, with a sigh, as she turned her attention forward again, to lean against Stark some more, slipping her hand into his. "It's just kind of a bummer that I think we may have hit that point in our situationship where whenever we try to do something fun, something...usually Rick...shows up and ruins it. But I have to remind myself that we have managed to get a few things in there without anything awful happening..."

But there did seem to be a trend with that kind of thing, didn't there? It was always something...

Stark automatically began rubbing his thumb over Summer's hand once it was in his.

"Situationship?" he repeated, trying out the word. It felt odd in his mouth. "I didn't know that was a word. And...yes. Why does your grandfather do that?"

Was it him? Had Stark offended the Smith/Sanchez clan unknowingly?

"The trip to New Zealand went well. And the planet you took me to with the ocean, where we danced. And your spa."

Look, Summer couldn't help it if the cultural zeitgeist had managed to craft a perfect word to describe their whole vibe right now in an incredibly timely fashion, but she wasn't about to bring any extra attention to it, either.

She just sighed and rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. "There isn't enough time in the world to go over just why Grampa Rick does what Grampa Rick does," she said. "He's just a bitter, old, lonely old man who's too smart for his own good and constantly thinks that means he's better than everyone, but he's just as much a piece of shit as the rest of us."

A beat.

"Maybe we should just go somewhere warm for Christmas," she suggested. "Just, you know, in this dimension, just to be safe."

Stark might get way fewer stares in her dimension, but she wondered if it was really all that worth it, considering....

So he wasn't getting any clarity on 'situationship' then. Stark could wait.

"We could do that," Stark agreed. "If you like. Somewhere warm with no family."

He could live with a few stares.

"I don't know where would be a good place. Do you? Have you gone somewhere before? I still haven't been that many places here...But you know I'd be happy to go anywhere with you."

He tightened his arm around her and pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "Anywhere you like."

He could also just google it! Do his own research! That would definitely probsbly clear things up!

"But would you want to?" Summer asked, frowning a little at that response, which was a very Stark response, yes, but the kind of Stark response that drove her a little crazy sometimes. "And not just because I want to. We can also totally stay here, too. If you want."

Googling things Summer said would absolutely probably clear nothing up!

"The tree will still be here when I get back," Stark said. "I want to be with you. The where is much less important."

He smiled softly at her. "And I do like to be warm. You know that. Somewhere with a beach, maybe? I like beaches. Quiet ones better than ones full of people but I like the sound of waves and I like watching the water."

"We can throw some lights on a palm tree," Summer said with a snort, "and drink Christmas pina coladas out of coconuts and I'll spend the whole day in a cute swimsuit."

"The whole day?" Stark asked, raising his eyebrow. "Hmmmm. And what will I have? Should I ask my stylist for a new swimsuit?"

He still had the pink one from the Indonesia trip and a pair of black trunks as well.

"Can we have Christmas cookies with our Christmas drinks?"

Another soft smile before he leaned in a bit for a kiss. The positioning was a little awkward but he could make do.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

MHA #4, Thursday Night

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject