#but it's also embarrassing because wowwww vulnerabilityyyyy

[eiseryn]

BONUS: Vulnerability

[NOTE: This is a bonus story written for another story, Lei's Treasure Box of Memories. It is a bonus scene for a bonus already written within that story - A place where you are safe to dream". Please read that story if you haven't yet before reading this one!]

Vail parked his car right beside the curb on Krystal street in one of the inner slum residential districts. With his hand on the wheel, he cautiously glanced left and right, but seeing nothing out of the ordinary except the usual shitty slum streets, he said, “Doc, we’re here.” 

There was no reply. 

“Doc?” He questioned, but a quick glance to his right confirmed what he already suspected. The aforementioned woman seemed to be deep asleep, her head hanging heavily against her seatbelt and her eyes closed. Her face was flushed slightly pink with the sleepy drunkenness she had displayed in the bar. She had probably fallen back asleep right after she mumbled her address to him at the start of the drive. 

With an almost inaudible sigh, he got out of the driver’s seat, walked over to the other side of the car, and opened the door.

“You have to wake up now.” 

Her eyebrows furrowed a little at his voice but she did not open her eyes, so he gently shook her forearms. It would have been more effective to shake her shoulders, but they were bare. 

She made a soft noise of protest when he did, but moments later, she opened her eyes and yawned. “Is it already morning?” When she asked, her words were slightly slurred but at least they were comprehensible.

“You shouldn’t drink so much.” He said to her, softly. 

The alcohol was clearly affecting her brain because she gave him a blank stare for what felt like a long time before she finally smiled at him. “I only drink like this around people I trust~” 

He shook his head. “I’m being serious, it’s not safe.”

“But I’m safe when you’re here~” She giggled in an airy, silly manner, which was unlike her usual serious demeanor she wore like her medical-grade masks. 

As she got out of the car, she seemed to sway unsteadily, veering first to the left and then to the right. Stepping onto the sidewalk, she tripped over her heels, but he was there to stabilize her. 

“Oops.” She giggled and grabbed onto one of his arms with both of her hands. Her grip was loose, so he had the opportunity to pull away, but he didn’t. “I’m so clumsy~” Her voice also had a cadence that usually wasn’t there. 

He could only sigh in response. “Again, don’t drink that much, Doc.” 

This time, she didn’t respond. As they walked to the apartment building, she pressed herself against his arm and he stiffened in response. But when he glanced at her, she was not looking at him. Her gaze was darting among the nearby pedestrians who were minding their own business and not even remotely paying attention to them. That's how it was always like in the slums: No one cared. Then, to his surprise, when they were alone on the stairs, she leaned in even closer to whisper, “Call me Lei when we’re alone~ ”

She was close that he could smell the faint scent of her floral perfume. It was a subtle, soothing smell, maybe lavender mixed with something else? The scent lingered even when she pulled away.

Since the walk was short, they were already at her door. This meant that he wouldn't have to reply or acknowledge her words. He wasn’t even sure what to say. 

“Well, good night.” He said, and turned to leave. 

But before he could, a hand swiftly reached out to grab at his rain jacket’s sleeve. Immediately, he stopped in place and then turned around to look at the person who the hand was attached to. She was looking at the floor, eyes downcast and hand tightly clutching onto the corner of his sleeve. 

“You’re always leaving… can’t you stay?” Her voice was already usually soft and in a low tone, but these words she said were barely audible above the constant hum of the city.

Then, she raised her head and stared right into his eyes. Time seemed to slow as her words hung heavily like suspensions in the air between them. Her enchanting green eyes blinked at him slowly and he fought the urge to immediately look away. 

His throat was suddenly dry, but he swallowed before he answered. “You’re drunk.” Then in a softer tone, he said, “ask me again when you’re not drunk.” 

She was drunk enough that she probably wouldn’t remember any of this in the morning. 

She looked down again, but nodded at the floor and then retracted her arm. “Good night, Vail.” He heard her mumble before the door slowly eased shut and the electronic lock set in place.

He walked down the single flight of stairs and back to his car. 

“Fuck.” He took a moment to rest his head and hands on the steering wheel. He had high tolerance for alcohol and hadn’t had much to drink, so he shouldn’t have been even close to being drunk. But now, he felt slightly warm. After shrugging off his jacket and placing it in the passenger seat where a certain someone had sat before, he drove himself home, his car racing into the neon-polluted city night. 

AUTHOR'S NOTES

This is set when they met up for drinks 3 weeks ago prior to the start of the campaign. This is also the last time they saw each other before the campaign started.

I love how embarrassing Lei is when she's drunk LOL she's so unhinged with how clingy and affectionate she is, and also just how she forgets about it often is really funny. Talking about forgetting, she probably doesn't remember Vail taking her home and assumed she took a taxi or something.

Why did she drink so much? This is probably at a point she's really frustrated with the experimental drug job Prism put her on and scapegoated her for. She probably had a bad day and was drinking too much, although again it's TRUE she does not watch herself as much when she's with people she trusts aka her friends.

According to the DM this is a canon event 💅 (I had to ask about this in embarrassment so work with me here)

It was really hard to write in Vail's perspective so it's also slightly objective because at the time I wrote this in like August he had only appeared twice LMAO and one of them was a phone call.

Although I used a lot of headcanons I think this honestly fits his personality/ what we know of him pretty well XD

Vail drinks his respect women juice (and he also apparently has no experience XD) and won't take advantage of Lei who's drunk off her rails! He did end up accepting her offer (?) when she wasn't drunk though soooo 😳😳😳

The other headcanons I have of him that became true (turned out to be canon?) was his high alcohol tolerance (hot 👀) and his sweet tooth (cutie!)

The title of the piece is "vulnerability" which indicates weakness. This is a weakness/vulnerability that Lei is showing to Vail cuz she doesn't watch herself and drinks too much (bad idea girl) but she let loose with him because she trusts him as her friend. But is it just her showing the weakness? I feel like perhaps, just a little, Vail might be a liiiitle weak to Lei herself.