WE WERE NEVER JUST FRIENDS
summary: Amber and Eve are best friends who love each other but are in relationships.
a/n: this is my first fanfic, I need more Amber and Eve fanfics😭😭 please recommend me some🙏🏽.
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This was the second time this week Eve had to listen to Amber talk about her relationship with Mark. To anyone else, Eve looked the part of the supportive best friend nodding along and being attentive.
Amber spoke with a mix of affection and growing frustration. She genuinely liked Mark, believing there was a good person under all his flaky excuses. Eve felt a bit trapped in a painful paradox. She knew Mark was a good guy, which made hating the situation impossible, but she also knew that she would treat Amber better.
"It's just taxing, you know?" Amber sighed, absentmindedly twisting a lock of her hair. "Dating him. It's like he's always half-somewhere else."
A hairline fracture spread across Eve’s heart. Amber didn't know that Mark was running off to save the world, but Eve did. And more than that Eve knew the toll that life took on normal people.
Eve consistently had the thought. If Mark and Amber ever did break up, would Amber ever willingly date a superhero again? Eve felt doomed by the very powers that made her special.
But still the yearning didn't just live in Eve's mind, it was a physical ache that hollowed out her chest.
Meanwhile Rex believed he was the center of Eve's world, despite him cheating. Eve let him believe it. She liked Rex well enough, but their relationship was born out of proximity and a desperate need for distraction.
The night Amber had told Eve that she slept with Mark, Eve had gone straight to Rex. It was a hollow, frantic attempt to drown out the nausea that clawed at her at the thought of Amber sharing that intimacy with someone else.
It hadn't worked. It never did.
Eve’s mind inevitably drifted back to the night she almost changed everything. It was the night that haunted her.
They had just finished a movie, grabbed Burger Mart, and sitting on the hood of Amber's car. The night air was cool the streetlights and sunset haze casting a soft glow over them. Eve had been so close to confessing everything, both her secret identity and the vast ocean of her love.
When their laughter died down, the both turned toward each other. Their faces were inches apart. Eve’s eyes went wide. Searching taking in every detail of Amber's face, the warmth of her brown skin, the depth of her dark eyes, and the curve of her lips.
Amber didn’t pull away instead her own breath hitched in anticipation. Eve had fought towering monsters and alien invasions without flinching, but kissing the girl she loved? That was a terrifying bridge she didn't have the courage to cross.
The moment stretched long enough that it was not awkward. They both looked away with rejection and relief washing over both of them.
"It's getting late," Eve had said, her voice sounding a bit shaky. "We should probably head back."
Amber nodded. The car ride home was tense and silent. When they finally parted ways, their goodbye hug lasted several seconds longer than you normal for just friends.
In the days that followed, neither of them brought up that night on the car hood. They let the memory gather dust, pretending it was just an awkward fluke. Then came the day Amber walked up to Eve to talk about her crush Mark. Eve had simply blinked, before putting on the mask with the most violently fake excitement she had ever displayed in her life.
Amber watched Eve’s overly enthusiastic reaction to the news about Mark. Amber wasn't fooled, but she played along anyway.
There was a secret Amber was keeping close to her chest. She highly perceptive of the people around her. Weeks ago, while looking at an old news photo of the Teen Team, her eyes had locked onto the flying girl in pink. The posture, the jawline, the way she carried herself, it was unmistakable, she had looked at Eve enough to know. Amber knew Eve was Atom Eve.
She also knew that Eve was in love with her. Amber could feel the heat of Eve's gaze whenever they were together, and it made her heart do flips in her chest.
A few days later, the dynamic between them shifted. Amber found Eve sitting on the bleachers, her eyes swollen from crying. When Eve admitted that Rex had cheated on her with another teammate. Amber felt a pang of sympathy. But beneath that sympathy was the unstoppable spark of pure joy ignited in her chest. Rex is out of the way.
Eve didn't stay to wallow. A monster was attacking downtown, and she had a duty. Amber watched her best friend run off, knowing exactly where she was going and what she was going to do.
Hours later, Eve arrived at Amber's place, still buzzing with residual adrenaline from the fight but emotionally exhausted. She had expected to find Amber doing homework. Instead, she found Amber sitting on her bed, staring blankly at her phone. Mark had bailed on her. Again.
"Hey," Eve said softly. "You okay?"
"He didn't show," Amber said, her voice flat. "Again. Something about his mom needing help."
Eve moved to sit on the edge of the bed, putting a comforting hand over Amber's. "I'm sorry, Amber. You deserve someone who actually shows up." Amber looked up to find Eve’s eyes already locked on her
As the night wore on they talked and listened the conversation flowing easily as it always did between them. They dissected Rex’s betrayal and Mark’s constant absenteeism.
To anyone watching, it was just two best friends comforting each other through boy drama. But beneath their gentle words. Neither would dare admit it aloud, but they were both quietly celebrating the slow collapse of the other's relationship.
When Eve listened to Amber complain about Mark, a part of her felt a dark thrill of hope that Amber was finally waking up to the fact that a hero couldn't give her what she needed, even as Eve desperately wished she could be the exception. And as Amber wiped a tear from Eve's cheek over Rex, she wasn't just being a good friend. She was clearing the canvas.
Eve felt a flutter of hope when Amber complained about Mark, she felt like a monster. Amber felt a rush of relief that Rex was out of the picture, she felt incredibly selfish. They were both drowning in a sea of unspoken desires and the shame that came with them. But all of that guilt, all the calculation and emotional chess, evaporated in a single, terrifying instant.
They were both playing a high-stakes game of emotional chess, leaning into each other's comfort, each secretly waiting for the perfect moment to claim the coveted spot right next to the other.
Guilt was a bitter pill that both girls swallowed every time they looked at each other. They were best friends. They were supposed to want the best for each other. Yet here they are feeding on the scraps of each other's failing relationships.
Amber was sitting in her room when the news broadcast cut to a breaking emergency downtown. A massive dangerous enemy was tearing through the city. Amber’s breath hitched as the camera panned to show the heroes fighting.
Eve
Amber watched as her heart hammered against her ribs, as Eve put out a pink barrier. But still with a brutal strike the creature shattered the shield and slammed Eve violently to the ground.
Amber felt physically sick. A wave of intense nausea washed over her a sharp pain flared in her chest. Seeing the girl she loved hurt like that made her feel like she was the one being crushed. Without a second thought for her own safety, Amber bolted out of her house, driving toward the chaos of downtown.
By the time Amber arrived, panting and terrified, the dust was settling. The monster was defeated, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake.
Standing amidst the rubble was the Teen Team, Invincible and Eve.
Mark and Eve both turned at the sound of approaching footsteps and spotted Amber. Mark’s brow furrowed in complete confusion, wondering what on earth his girlfriend was doing in a dangerous battle zone.
Amber didn't even look at Mark. Her eyes were locked entirely on the girl in pink, who was covered in dust and had a badly bruised shoulder.
"Eve!" Amber yelled, her voice cracking.
Mark stood rooted to the spot, still confused why Amber was calling out to Eve and not him.
Eve’s eyes went wide. Ignoring the pain in her body and the confusion radiating off Mark, she floated into the air straight to Amber, landing gently in front of her. Before Eve could even ask what she was doing there, Amber threw her arms around Eve’s neck.
Amber held her impossibly tight, burying her face in Eve's shoulder. "I'm so proud of you," Amber whispered, her voice still shaking. "But I was so, so scared. I thought I lost you."
“Oh-okay-ow.ow.OW” Eve cried as Amber hugged her and her bruised shoulder too hard. The Eve realized Amber was hugging her. Eve stood frozen for a moment, her heart hammering she tentatively wrapped her arms around Amber.
"Amber... how did you know it was me?" she breathed, pulled back slightly to look at her.
"I've known for weeks, Eve. I put it together from a Teen Team photo," Amber admitted, wiping a tear from her eye. Then Amber looked over at the confused. "Oh. Hey, Mark."
Mark just stood there, his brain short-circuiting. He opened his mouth to ask a thousand questions, but a booming call from the sky interrupted him. Omni-Man was hovering above, signaling that they needed to leave immediately. With one last curious look at the two girls, Mark flew off with his dad.
Eve barely noticed Mark leaving as all of her focus was on Amber. The realization of what Amber had just sunk in. Amber, her Amber, a normal human with no powers ran directly into a warzone because she was worried about her.
The sheer terror of what could have happened to Amber caused Eve to boil over.
"What were you thinking?!" Eve suddenly scolded. "You could have been killed, Amber! Do you have any idea what that would do to me? I can't lose you!"
The frustration, the pining, the months of silence with the raw unfiltered love all surged to the surface at once. Eve couldn't take it anymore. Quickly leaning forward, Eve silenced her own scolding by pressing her lips to Amber’s in a sudden desperate kiss.
It was everything Eve had dreamed of and more. But panic quickly flooded Eve's mind. What did I just do? Eve pulled back abruptly, her cheeks flushing a deep red. "Amber, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have—"
Amber reached up putting her fingers through Eve’s hair and pulling her back down into much deeper kiss. This time there was no fear, no hesitation, and no holding back.
The spot next to each other was finally claimed.
When Amber finally pulled back from the kiss they were both breathless. The background noise of sirens and crumbling debris seemed to fade into a dull hum, leaving just the two of them in their own quiet bubble.
Eve stared at Amber, her pink-glowing energy flickering slightly around her fingertips from nerves. "You... you kissed me back," Eve whispered, sounding genuinely shocked.
Amber let out a soft, shaky laugh, her hands still resting on Eve's shoulders. "Of course I did, you idiot. Did you really think I’d race here just to be neighborly?"
"But Mark—"
"Mark and I are over, Eve. Honestly, we were over before we even started," Amber said. Her gaze intense and loving. She reached up to gently brush some dirt off Eve's cheek. "I was trying to like him because looking at you, and feeling what I feel for you... it terrified me. You're a hero, Eve. You're everything. I didn't think I could handle the stress of wondering if you'd come home. But watching you fall on that TV screen today? I realized not being with you hurts a hell of a lot more than the worrying ever could."
A tear slipped down Eve's cheek, carving a clean path through the dust on her face. "I've been in love with you for so long, Amber. It felt like I was physically aching every time I saw you with him. I felt so guilty for being happy when you guys had problems."
"Me too," Amber admitted with a soft smile. "Every time you complained about Rex, a part of me was throwing a party. I felt like a terrible best friend."
"Maybe we're both a little terrible," Eve teased softly, leaning her forehead against Amber's. "But I promise you, I will always show up. I won't be half-somewhere else. If I'm with you, I'm all there."
Amber beamed, leaning up to press a soft, lingering peck to Eve's lips. "I know you will. Now, let's get you out of here before your ex or my ex flies back down to make it weird."
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