#i hope everybody is doing fine | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kariachi · 3 months ago

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Guess who woke up with words in their head? One each Couples Retreat AU where the Team Tennyson loses, arguments are had, crises occur, and things change.

The worst part was losing. The worst part was seeing Gwen’s worried face out the corner of his eye. The worst part was being at anyone’s mercy. The pride on Darkstar’s face. The certainty mirrored on Ben’s as Charmcaster stepped forward. Biting back a scream as he was rende

“What the fuck are you doing?!”

And everything flipped over.

Kevin blinked away enough of the pain to see, did his best to ignore ‘I almost died again’ echoing in his mind. Gwen and Ben were still there, Charmcaster and Darkstar were still there. Without thought or pause, this was life or death (‘I almost died again’) he tried to work out their angle.

“I’m finishing them,” Charmcaster said with a sharp-edged smile, yanking her wrist from Darkstar’s grip. “It’s what you do when your enemies are down.”

“No. Not happening.” There was something familiar about his expression, hard to make out with a contact missing. Kevin could make out Charmcaster’s answering scowl fine enough, it practically echoed through the room.

“You’re the one who wanted them dealt with.” She turned away from him as she said it, back to the rest of them (‘I almost died again’). With a quick sidestep Darkstar was between them, back and shoulders straight, exuding as much authority as he could.

“I wanted revenge, not murder.” His expression, finally, caught Kevin about between the eyes.

It was the same one from back in that damn subway tunnel, so long ago.

“Oh, Mike.” Somehow his stomach, already fallen through at his realization, dropped further at the change in Charmcaster’s tone. He recognized that too. Full of unsaid ‘you can trust me’s, ‘I’m right you don’t know it yet’s, ‘you poor thing’s. Recognized the soft smile on her face as she reached up to cup Da- Mike’s, a man saved your life you used his name- to cup Mike’s face. He tensed under her touch. “Don’t worry, you’ll learn how these things work in time.”

Kevin couldn’t have told you when he moved. One moment he was trying to pull himself together, eyes locked on the enemy. Charmcaster was leaning up for a kiss. Then, he was hitting her with his full weight.

They skid several yards over the stone floor, Kevin’s lips pulled back in a snarl as he tried to get a new armor while in motion. Tried. A blast of magic sent him flying as they neared a stop, colliding back first against a far wall with a nasty crack and searing pain. Not the worst he’d felt, not the worst he’d felt in the last five minutes, but enough for him to hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

“You just don’t know when to stay down, do you?” She was glaring daggers at him, and Kevin shot a wide, toothy grin back. Tried to make a comment about smart Levin’s dying young (‘I almost died again’) but only managed a few ragged coughs.

“Charmcaster, please listen to me-” Finally, he looked towards his team, just enough of a quick glance to see them helping each other up from the floor. Gwen looked torn, Ben looked determined, both here in one piece, that was all he needed. Especially when another spell was coming his way and moving hurt-

A golden blast of energy just past her head brought Charmcaster up short, magic fizzling in her hand as it took a chunk of the floor off in the distance.

“I said enough, Hope.” The look she threw at Mike- stood there with energy pooled in his hands, glare so much like Ben’s had been Kevin almost looked away- was wide-eyed and betrayed. Another coughing fit hit Kevin as he tried to snort a laugh. Really, after the shit she’d pulled she was going to be upset someone turned on her? After even just the shit she’d done to him specifically? (‘I almost died again’)

“You just-”

“The next one won’t be a warning.” Tension danced electric through the room as Charmcaster finished climbing off the floor, eyes narrowing into a glare of her own.

“After I’ve given you everything-”

“I never asked, and sure as shit didn’t agree to the price.” Her mouth twisted, like she would cry or she would scream. Mike stood firm. Kevin pushed his pain aside, struggling to his feet. Gwen tried to step between the other magic users, an attempt at reason visible on her lips, in the heartbeat before Ben pulled her back out of the way of the first spell.

The fight was back on.

No one spoke as they stepped out the door, though Kevin wondered about the viability of just tearing it apart. Certainly, it would save at least him a lot of future trouble. But he was pretty sure some bones were at least bruised, Gwen would have his ass if he even tried, and-

“I’m sorry.”

The halting words brought everybody up short. Ben brought up a knuckle to work at one of his ears as the three of them turned, all wide-eyed and gaping, to Mike. He wasn’t meeting any of their gazes, back and shoulders so straight they were almost stiff. Before anyone could try to break the tension with a smart remark, he spoke again.

“If I- If I’d known how far she would take things, I never would have mentioned you.” He was frowning as he spoke, the slightest shaking to his hands, the echo of something that was almost pleading in his voice. “I didn’t know, I- I never wanted anyone dead.”

“We know,” Kevin found himself saying without a second thought. Ben and Gwen looked at him like they weren’t so sure but-

But he knew the expression Mike had had in there like he knew all the rest of his sins. He knew what he could see stealing into his eyes, now that everyone was safe and the adrenaline was dying down. It was one he’d found in a grimy mirror in a condemned bathroom, the scents of ozone and burnt flesh fresh in his nose. The twisting, nauseating knowledge that things had gone too far. That it was all your fault. The sort of thing that settled into you and never left, no matter what you piled on top or what corner you shoved it in.

(‘I almost died again’)

He threw on a smile he hoped was more soothing than he felt.

“Thanks for finding that one moral of yours when you did.” Mike gave a single, tiny snort of a laugh, clapping his hand over his mouth straight after. When he dropped it there was a fake smile Kevin could have seen through without any contacts sat there.

“You’re welcome.” The smile only lasted a moment though, shrinking down as he looked Kevin over. “Are you, alright?” From the tension you’d think it pained him to ask. Then again if it was him in his position Kevin was pretty sure it would. Still, the words seemed to break something in the tension, all eyes turning his way as Gwen grabbed his arm.

“You hit that wall pretty hard,” she said, frown marring her face as she checked him over, grazing fingers over his back. He kept the smile on, though he was half sure the others could see through it as easily as he saw through Mike’s attempts a calm, and bit back the signs of pain when she touched spots he hoped weren’t broken, the hurt that she acted like the question wast about the wall and not

(‘I almost died again I almost died again I almost died again Gwendolyn say it admit it acknowledge it the way you acknowledge my murderer is hurting for fuck’s sake please I love you I died for you I almost died-’)

“I’ve had worse,” he said, not entirely a lie. None of them looked convinced though. Ben seemed like he was meeting his eyes only because he might vanish otherwise, Gwen’s grip on him tightened, and behind the straight face he thought Mike might vomit.

Wouldn’t blame him, he wanted to himself.

“That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t still see a doctor,” Gwen said in a tone that translated to ‘you’re seeing a doctor’. Kevin didn’t have it in him to argue, even if he’d wanted to. After everything, he really wasn’t in the mood to just, hope things healed right on their own.

“Yeah,” Ben said, throwing on a smile of his own as he stepped forward, “last thing we need is you in a million pieces again.”

“One time,” Kevin joked, or at least tried to. The proper tone just couldn’t seem to make it out of his throat. (‘I almost died again’) He sighed, ignoring the pain in his chest, and stole a look at Mike, edging away like he was intruding on something private. Like he wasn’t part of tonight’s mess. “Call a cab? I ain’t walking all that way, and I want a quick chat with our resident vampire.”

The Tennysons both frowned, threw suspicious looks Mike’s way. Kevin let them. Mike let them. It wasn’t unearned concern, after all.

“Three minutes,” Ben eventually said, just like Kevin’d known he would. Gwen took longer, glaring painful death before slowly nodding her head and following her cousin off to the side. There was silence between the boys as they watched them leave earshot.

“So…” Kevin said, foot giving an awkward shuffle as they faced each other, “are you okay?” Mike blinked, once, twice, before giving another small smile.

“I’ll be fine. Just… wasn’t expecting any of that.”

“You don’t know her like we do.” Kevin shook his head. “Just, wanted to make sure. Times fucky in there, and…” ‘And I’ve dealt with her enough to worry about anybody.’ Fingers tapped against Mike’s pants for a moment before he balled up one hand and laid the back of it against Kevin’s arm.

“I’ll be fine,” he reiterated, and while the look in his eye said it was half for show… Well, what could he do about that? He certainly hadn’t figured out the secret to not being haunted by past mistakes. Instead, Kevin just nodded, chewing his lip.

“Good. I’m, glad.” He was. But also- “I wanted to say sorry.” Mike froze, face twisting into a frown. Kevin just took a deep breath- it was something that’d been on his mind for a good while, and after that night, it was hard to keep shoving it down.

“I’ve been to Incarcecon,” he said and tried to ignore the realization in Mike’s eyes. “I didn’t know Morgg had taken charge, didn’t know what he was doing, but…” Another breath. “Wouldn’ta let them drag you away if I’d known that shit was gonna happen to you.”

“Ah.” Mike licked his lips, took a deep breath. Silence fell over the two of them, neither meeting the other’s eyes. Both fidgeting in their own way, Mike less obviously than Kevin. “A question? Unrelated?”

“Yeah?”

“When you tackled her,” he gestured back towards the door, let the question trail off. Something familiar twisted in Kevin’s gut.

“You don’t want to know,” he said. “Just- Just trust me, and stay the fuck away from her.” He didn’t know the details, he couldn’t know the details, but still Mike’s face lost a touch of color.

“Alright.” He nodded slowly. “We’ll call that even then.” Face twisting, Kevin opened his mouth and couldn’t get a word in

“You didn’t stop me ending up with… that… But, you did stop whatever Charmcaster was doing. That evens it out.” That-

“Time! Come on, Kev, we’ve got a cab coming!” Ben’s voice cut through the awkwardness of the scene, drew a quick snort of laughter from Kevin and a small smile from Mike.

“One sec!” As the hand dropped from his arm, Kevin flashed another, slightly truer smile. “You’re a dipshit, Morningstar,” he said, gratified at the small shrug he saw in return, “but you did good back there. Try leaning a little more into that.” Mike just sighed, smile still on his face, and he was probably just imagining the bit of relief in his eyes.

“Goodbye, L- Kevin.”

“Bye.” They both turned, practically in unison, in opposite directions, but Kevin only made it a few steps. The guy had saved his life (‘I almost died again’) and that was a serious debt. “Mike.”

“Hm?” He didn’t turn. He was pretty sure Mike didn’t either. The Tennysons were waiting, but they’d be fine.

“You know I, get it.” There was silence. They both knew exactly what he was talking about.

“…I know.” Kevin took a deep breath.

“If you ever decide you don’t want that shit hanging over you anymore… Hit me up.”

Again, everything was quiet. The Tennsyons looked to be getting concerned now. More concerned now. Not like he could blame them, but… He knew what he had to do. He did it. Greatest strength greatest weakness.

“I’ll keep it in mind.”

He could taste Mike taking off, his energy signature fading up and away. It was all the signal his body needed to start walking again, throwing on a smile for the Tennysons as they crowded him. Began leading the way to a place they could all sit and wait for their cab. They asked no questions, he gave no answers, just leaned his weight on Gwen, tried to assess his injuries. Clear his mind. (‘I almost died again’)

It wasn’t the worst night he’d ever had.

#fanfic #mike: i'm fine with stalking kidnapping manipulating and eating people but i draw the line at murder #just #had thoughts in the head last night about how easily charm takes to murder and how we have no real proof mike's ever even #and well #sorry everybody you get mike having a moral and a crisis #because he almost got three people killed and that's a step too far even for him #all from the pov of a kevin who has already had that crisis and let it break him #and kinda is hoping he can keep it from doing the same here #while having a crisis of his own because nearly dying like a week after your murder is gonna fuck with a guy

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