𝖉𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖈𝖗𝖚𝖘𝖍

“You think??“ He answered her with sarcasm dripping from his words. He brushed at her hair when he saw a piece of glass had found its way within before he sighed. “I could believe it to be normal if a couple of lights blew, things like that happen, but did you see that? They all blew in repetition down a row, not missing a beat.“

   The sarcasm she was used to, and she didn’t take it personally, instead standing rigid as he plucked the glass from her hair and scrunching up her nose in response, “I just mean that... whatever’s happening has to be happening close, wouldn’t you say? This kind of controlled chaos...”

Max: -.- why does everyone keep saying things like that

Max: I’m not going to blow anything up! I can handle myself.

Adeline: as your personal doctor i feel like i have more credence to say that?? but im sorry I didn't mean to imply...

Max: i am D O N E with bartending on weekday nights

Max: the tips are NOT worth the dumbass customers at all

Adeline: You say that but you know you love having the stories to tell later. Just try not to blow up at anyone.

“Is it…would that really be such a bad thing?” Max turned the screen back toward himself, studying it in silence for a few minutes. it had to be the work of a Mage. His parents had told him stories about similar situations - animals showing up where they couldn’t possibly be without magic, freak weather, strange accidents, incidents that were more than just coincidences. He bit his lip, locking the screen. “I don’t get what the big deal is. We shouldn’t live in hiding anyway, it isn’t fair to anyone. Not to them, not to us.”

   “Historically, yes.” Adeline said with a soft sigh, pausing in her speech to glance up at the waiter who had brought her and Max’s food and settling into it before her to wait for the man to walk away, before directing her attention back to Max, “When people catch wind of magic they either destroy the world trying to control it or kill those who have it for fear of what they can do. It’ll turn into an all out war, I think.”

   There was a pause, and she picked up a pickle spear to bite into it and chew thoughtfully for a moment, before pointing the bitten end at him, “I’d love it if we could be out and things could be normal... but I see my family... I see my past, and the past of humanity... and it seems like such a far-fetched dream.”

“You know how much I love baseball, and you are just dogging on it right in front of me. This is why our relationship didn’t work.“ He teased her, nudging her with his shoulder. He knew she was the type that could handle a joke, so he let lose on her at times. “You’re right though, baseball does have it’s slow times.“

“See, I hear what you’re saying, and I’m taking it to heart, but I just don’t happen to notice anyone just spilling their feelings to me.“ He explained before he laughed. “How could I ever forget I have my friends to die around.“ He joked.

   “You say that and I think you’re just afraid to pay attention to the ones who like you. The second you recognize it you become exposed... you become vulnerable to the heartbreak and terror that comes with someone liking you, and even worse, you liking someone back.” Adeline spoke from experience, but let her attention wander briefly off to the side; the way they were speaking about it made it feel juvenile, but it was anything but.

Sometimes the way she looked at him, it still made him blush; she had this power of making him feel like he was special. Just with a glance, she made him feel that he’d done something amazing by showing up and picking up food, even when, to him, it had been the most natural thing in the world. She always made him feel like he was amazing, even before they’d started dating. 

Ease. Being with Adeline had always given him this sense of ease. Typically, Hank was an introvert; being with others was always spending energy, energy which was only recharged when he was home alone with Stella. But even that first night with Adeline, when they met at the medical benefit, he’d known in the first hour that she was something special. Talking to her hadn’t felt like work. He’d lost track of time while they’d spoken and it had only come back to him hours later when the benefit had ended and he’d asked her if she wanted to go out for coffee afterwards to continue their discussion. It had started their friendship, their relationship, and he’d never looked back.

He spun around with her in his arms, every bit the fool in love that he’d been when he first wooed her, when they’d begun dating, and when he’d asked her to marry him. With her, he was a sentimental man…it was a label he was happy to own. 

“Damn right, I’m gruff. I’m a big old bear,” he joked, playfully snapping his jaws. “And you, you’re like a butterfly or a swan, something elegant and unforgettable. I don’t know how a guy like me with my busted up nose got to end up with a woman like you…” The last part he almost whispered to himself, watching as Adeline’s hair fanned out as she spun and came back to him. “It’s easy to be kind to you. You’re the sweetest woman in the world.” He brushed his thumb along her jawline and pressed a kiss to her cheekbone. “But there isn’t much accounting for your taste in men if I’m your example.”

   Adeline could do magic — literal, honest to gods magic — and yet she felt the most peaceful, the most magical, the most SPECIAL when she was with Hank. It didn’t matter where they were, or what it was they were doing. Hells, they were standing in the middle of her office after a day of work with the mingling smells of take-out wafting through the small place and making it smell like Downtown was seeping in from outside and the florescent lights were doing nothing for anyone (though she’d argue Hank looked great even in complete darkness) and still she felt like her entire world was from a fairy tale.

   People often wax poetic about being in love, and often Adeline’s mind went to those same places, but it was also just so easy to be with Hank that she felt as if those times when they were whispering sweet-nothings to one another were as easy and special as the times when she’d flop down next to him in sweats while he watched baseball and play some new game on her phone and said nothing at all.

   Was that what love has always been? Perhaps she’d been looking at it all wrong before she’d met this man, but she didn’t care. Everything about him fit with her, and the pieces that didn’t fit made him all the more special. No one’s perfect, but he was perfect for her, “You’re an idiot sometimes, joonam.”

   The words came wrapped in a laugh and a smile so bright there was obviously no offense meant, and her cheek nestled aside to first his touch at her jaw and then his lips upon her cheekbone, “You say things like that and do not realize how utterly and completely special you are. You’re unique, and not in the way that kids think glitter stickers are unique... you’re magic.”

   They didn’t often talk about the fact that she was a mage. It didn’t seem important and once she had told Hank about it they had... had their moment, they had hashed it all out, hands held close together, and she implored him to never speak of it to anyone else. She knew the man to whom she was now pressing her body in against again to lean up and kiss between his eyes — not quite the bridge of his nose this time — with several soft kisses, would never betray her.

Max knew Adeline was trying to be helpful, but her words only made him feel hopeless. What he wanted, more than anything, was to feel like he belonged. The magical world had never felt like home to him, and no matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be truly human. He let out a long sigh and slumped back against his chair. “What do you think about the tail?” he asked, changing the subject, well, sort of changing the subject. Quickly, he pulled out his phone and went through his camera roll until he found the screenshot he’d taken the day it happened. “This,” he showed her, turning the phone around. “Think it was one of us?”

   Max had a deep-seated desire to change his stars, and since Adeline knew no way to do that — at least not yet — she could only offer the advice of feeling at home in one’s own skin. It had taken her a dozen years after leaving her home to feel anything remotely close to comfortable, but she felt at home now.

“Hey, baseball is an important game. You gotta just accept how a man gets with his game.” He chuckled, patting her arm. “Yeah, I know I cant find someone who is exactly like me, but I want some common interests so its not a warzone every time the TV is on, you know? Or what if she doesnt like meat, and I love meat, Imean there area fundamentals that I look for.”

He felt like he was making excuses instead of just falling in love. Maybe it wasn’t meant for him. “No, no one really has sparked me, but then again, you know how I am. Im oblivious to most women when I think they are just being friends with me when in reality they want to jump my jock.” He sighed. “I’ll die alone, you just watch. It’s a good thing I have money to wipe my tears.” He joked with a grin.

   Adeline knew very well the warzone of relationships; she had lucked out in the end in finding Hank, but all of her relationships hadn’t gone nearly so well as Luka, especially with other mages. She was just lucky none of them had found out about her being a Braight, otherwise there might have been another whole slew of issues, “I think the thing with Baseball is it barely feels like a game? Like things are happening but it’s so slow it just feels like a lot of waiting around mostly.”

   At the talk of him dying alone, her eyes rolled, but not in the way that was totally exasperated but in the fact that he was likely swimming in women who liked him and whom he could like but he just wasn’t choosing to see it; it was one of Luka’s biggest faults: big heart, no vision, “Really if you’d just pay attention I’m sure there’s at least a dozen or so that don’t just want to jump your bones and also like meat,” that sounded weird, but she soldiered on, “besides, you can’t die alone. You’ve got me. And Hank. And Max.”

“You found you a good one. Hank’s great to hang out with even if we work for opposing rivals.“ The cop and firefighter rivalry was ancient, and yet even in 2019, it was still a thing. “I would say I hope he treats you well, but I already know he does.” He smiled at her.

Luka looked down on her and smiled when she leaned against him. “I really don’t know. I just don’t feel a connection to anyone I meet lately. Like even with this girl Saturday, she doesnt even know what Star Wars is. I know that’s a stupid thing to be a turn off, but it still is!”

   The smile only served to broaden as Hank was praised, like somehow his being considered good made her feel better; she knew it, beneath everything she knew how utterly and completely good that man was, and she’d even managed to forget the tragedy of her upbringing and the fear that her family would come screw it up for now... it was sublime.

   “He really is... and to be honest, it helps that he gets some of the same things I do. I mean there are things he likes that I DO NOT GET? But I love him for it all the same. You should see how he reacts to a baseball game, it’s insane, but watching him makes me smile and I sit through every boring game with him playing on my phone because it makes him so incredibly happy. You gotta find someone you like so much you don’t care that they like something boring like baseball, you know?” Adeline had rambled, as she was wont to do when Hank came up, but she shrugged now and tried to reel it in, still leaning on Luka’s side a bit, “There’s really no one sparking you? I’d say that’s sad but we both sort of did that a lot... we’re weird birds, I think.”