#also missy is my GIRL. blorbo of all time. i love her.

[scattered-winter]

seven sentence sunday

tagged by @moonlightbuckleys !!!! sending u ALL the kisses and hugs in the whole world MWAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this is. an oc story im rotating. actually. most of u don't have context for them. but regardless <3 here <3 (also wayyyy more than 7 sentences but SHHhhshhhh)

Missy hesitates, raises a hand to stop Kit before he can leave. He pauses, turns back. Missy is fiddling with a long blonde braid, not quite meeting his eyes.

“There’s, uh. Something I’ve been working on,” she says, and then she reaches for her cluttered work desk and picks up a bracelet. It has large, round black beads, with intricate detailing carved into each one. She holds it up for him to see.

“It’s…a bracelet,” Kit deadpans, raising his eyebrows at her. He’s used to Missy tinkering with odds and ends, and even more used to her showing him her creations, but he doesn’t quite get why she’s so nervous over something so small.

Missy hesitates, rubs the back of her neck. He’s never seen her this nervous. “Look…see, the thing is…I made it for you.”

He must look confused, because she rushes to explain herself. “I’ve been studying those power suppression cuffs the humans use on us,” she says quickly. “It’s fascinating how they work, really, but I was hoping to reverse-engineer them to work for…well. What I was hoping.”

She holds up the bracelet to study it with an analytical gaze. “I…don’t know if it works. But if it does…it can neutralize your powers, Kit.”

Kit just looks at her, not quite believing what she’s saying. “You…you mean…this can…take my powers away?” It almost sounds too good to be true, but at the same time…it’s a terrifying thought.

“No, not quite,” Missy explains. “Just…turn them off for a while. You can control whenever you want them off, and disable the bracelet whenever you need to use them. But while it’s on…well, in theory, it’ll temporarily take away your powers and all the…side effects.”

Kit doesn’t know what to say. He just looks at her, mouth agape, trying to process what she’s saying. He could…he could touch her. He could hug her, like he’s always wanted to do. He ached for it always, a literal throbbing underneath his skin whenever he watched the others hug, or lean into each other, or ruffle each other’s hair. The longing for it, for physical contact, was almost more painful than anything else he’d ever experienced.

And now Missy was here, saying she could help him.

Fuck, he wanted to hug her now more than ever.

Instead, he lets out a trembling exhale and says, “Does…does it work?”

“I haven’t tested it yet,” Missy admits. “I mean…there isn’t really a safe way to do that…but. I don’t know. I just…I wanted you to know that I’m working on it. I won’t stop until I’ve figured it out, I swear.”

Gingerly, she hands him the bracelet, and Kit is careful not to let his fingers brush hers, despite the fact that he’s wearing gloves.

“I think,” he says slowly, not even daring to hope, “I can maybe figure out a way to test it. Without anyone getting hurt.”

Missy grins at him, dark skin smudged with some kind of oil from one of her gadgets. “Well, what are you waiting for?”

Kit hesitatingly smiles back and backs out of her workshop, knees wobbling. He isn’t quite sure how he makes it out into the hallway and up several flights of stairs to the very top floor, then the ladder up to the loft. To Ryker’s room.

He knocks softly on the trapdoor, and Ryker grunts an invitation. Kit sticks his head through the opening, and Ryker looks up from where he’s sunning himself on the floor, large wings spread wide to catch the sunlight streaming through the large skylight set into the roof.

“Hey, Kit. C’mon in.”

Kit climbs inside and carefully lowers the door closed behind him. Ryker shifts to a sitting position, black wings sweeping over the floor and coming to rest behind him.

Kit doesn’t know where to start. The bracelet is hanging from his grasp, cool and light, and Ryker is sitting in front of him in a beam of sunlight, so close but so incredibly far just like everyone else, and Kit doesn’t know how to cross the distance without hurting, without killing.

“Kit,” Ryker says, and it’s his soft voice, the one he uses when he’s trying to comfort one of the younger kids after a nightmare. “What’s going on?”

Kit swallows. He can do this. “Missy’s been working on a way to…to neutralize my powers,” he says, voice hitching involuntarily. “And the only way I can think of to test it without…without risking anyone getting hurt…”

Because Ryker is the only one who has touched him skin to skin and lived. Because his powers are unique, and his self-healing can keep up with Kit’s destruction, at least for a while.

It’s painful. Kit knows that. But it isn’t fatal, and that’s better than anything else.

He can see the moment Ryker understands why he’s come. “You need to test it on me,” he says.

Kit nods, barely able to draw in a full breath. He feels like he’s standing on the edge of a cliff, threatening to fall, and he can’t step back onto solid ground but he’s too afraid to take the plunge.

But Ryker just stretches out a hand, palm forward, fingers splayed, and just holds it there, in the space between them. And he just waits.

Kit draws in a shaking breath, slowly slips on the bracelet. He pinches a bead between his fingers, just as Missy had instructed, and twists it three ticks to the left. The carvings in the beads light up a cool, pale blue.

Then, with trembling fingers, Kit removes his gloves, one at a time. His fingers are pale, like the rest of his body probably is. He’s fairly sure his heart has stopped beating.

“Kit,” Ryker says, and Kit realizes he’s frozen up like a deer in headlights. “It’s okay,” Ryker continues, voice gentle. “We don’t need to—”

“No,” Kit manages to gasp. “I…I need to know.” If there’s a chance, if there’s hope, if he’ll ever find release.

Kit takes in a deep breath, squares his shoulders, and reaches forward. He’s moving in slow motion, swimming through syrup, as his hand slowly moves toward Ryker’s. Ryker doesn’t move, doesn’t try to reach for him. He just waits and lets Kit come to him.

Their fingers are a breath apart now, and Kit gathers his courage. He’s ready to pull away at the slightest sign of Ryker being hurt, at the slightest spark of his power surging into Ryker’s body. He reaches forward.

And their fingers brush against each other.

Kit pulls back immediately, in shock, in surprise, because he expected Ryker to flinch back, because that’s what always, always happened.

But there had been nothing. No spark of warmth, no crackle of fire in his veins. Kit slowly, cautiously presses the tips of his fingers to Ryker’s again, gauging his reaction for any indication that he needs to stop.

The only sign he gets is a smile, spreading slow and wide across Ryker’s face.

Kit keeps reaching, keeps moving, until their palms are flat against each other. Still, no burst of power, and Ryker is still smiling at him, so widely it must be hurting his cheeks.

Slowly, Ryker tangles their fingers, and their hands slot together like puzzle pieces.

And oh. His hands are rough, callused from battle, but they’re warm. It’s like everything Ryker had imagined, and at the same time it’s so, so much more.

He lets out a small laugh that cuts off into a hitched sob. Ryker is beaming at him, gently squeezing his hand, and Kit doesn’t know if he’s laughing more or crying as he squeezes back.

“It…it works,” he gasps through tears. “I…I didn’t think…” Then he gasps, sits up straighter as he remembers something important.

“What?” Ryker is looking at him in concern, their hands still tangled together, and Kit isn’t sure he ever wants to let go. “Are you okay?”

Kit stands, pulls Ryker up with him. “I need to go hug Missy,” he says, and Ryker grins.

“Well, what are we waiting for?”

tagging !! @soleadita and @xandromedan and @dauntingday and all my other writer friends!!!! and anyone else who wants to!!!!!!!!!!!!