toxic kiss

“Sorry, but I think you’re mistaken. This isn’t a kissing booth… is it?” Honestly, Zachariah had just seen an empty seat and sat in it, figuring he’d tell anyone who approached him to do one. He liked the atmosphere of things like this, however he also liked to sit alone, and just people watch. The man frowned, and turned the sign on the stall around and saw that it was. “Oh, well, I mean if you’re gonna pay for the kissing booth then I’m open to it. These lips aren’t free. A dollar for a kiss, three if you want a little tongue action.”

Naomi quickly shook her head, “I am not kissing you. I just came over to talk.” She didn’t know why he was sitting at the Kissing Booth if he had no idea what it was, but that didn’t really matter. She had thought long and hard about her power and what she wanted to do with it. Sure, the training sessions with Flynn were helpful, but she still didn’t have Zachariah’s level of control. “If I were to ask you for advice on control, would you be honest with me?” 

In the recent year, Flynn had been teaching himself as much as he could about video game design. VR gaming, in particular. He was happy at the fact that in his town, they even had a place that he could play those types of video games. It was the number one thing, in his mind, that stood out for him in the town he lived in. Even if there were times when he wished he lived in Park, he always reminded himself of the opportunities he had in Point that others in the other town didn’t.

The VR face set was tight around his head as he was playing tetris. He was trying to beat his high score, which was one that most people couldn’t even beat, when he felt a presence behind him. It distracted him enough to where the blocks started piling and at that point, there was no stopping it. He let out a groan. “If you were trying to distract me enough to make me lose concentration on my game, then you fucking succeeded.” He pulled off the VR face mask and glanced behind him. “Are the other sets taken up or something?” He was trying not to look or sound annoyed because in reality, if someone wanted to use the station he was at, he’d just let them. 

Naomi had never really explored the VR Bar before now, but after hearing Flynn mention it, she wanted to check it out. Seeing him playing, Naomi went to go wait for him to be done. She wasn’t making any noise, but clearly her presence alone was enough to distract him. After he took the set off and scolded her, Naomi held her hands up in surrender, her smile gone. “Goddamn, I was just waiting to talk to you, jesus. I guess I’ll come back.”

“Thanks.” Flynn said with a smile and walked into her apartment. He turned and watched as Naomi shut the door. He could tell something was wrong, so he waited patiently to see what she had to say. “What do you mean?” He asked, cautiously. He opened his mouth to say something else but then closed it when she continued to talk. His eyebrows furrowed slightly. She wasn’t looking at him and he wasn’t going to press her to. “Did he make you do something you didn’t want to do?” Flynn asked, straight to the point. If he did, Zachariah was going to have to answer to Flynn. He was not comfortable people peer pressuring his friends. “What happened?”

Still seated on the couch, Naomi flicked her eyes up to look at Flynn as he spoke. Chewing on her fingernail, she pulled it away to answer. “He kept asking me what I would do if I had to hold on to someone in order for them to live. I told him that’d never happen because I wouldn’t put myself in that situation and because I couldn’t hold contact for longer than like thirty seconds. Apparently, he took that as an ‘okay’ to grab onto me.” Shaking her head, she leaned back into the couch. “He grabbed onto my arm and wouldn’t let go even though I was screaming at him to drop it.” Her top lip had curled into a sneer at the memory. “I guess on the bright side I held my power for about forty seconds. My nose was bleeding by the end of it though. That’s never happened before.” She continued to explain in a soft tone. “I’m just being dramatic, right? It’s not that big of a deal?” She questioned her friend, waiting to see how he’d react.

“Are you gonna stop long enough to realise that you managed to hold it for longer than thirty seconds?” Zachariah asked, showing no emotion in his own features as the female screamed at him. The blood had him worried, her emotions had him worried, but he wouldn’t ruin things and show that. This would only work if Naomi thought of Zachariah as the person she had already fixed in her mind. “You could have, but you didn’t. It was a calculated risk.” He wanted to step closer, help her with her bleeding nose and her anger, but Zachariah didn’t dare to take a step towards her. “Calm yourself down, Naomi. See this as a win.”

Flynn hadn’t seen Naomi much since the last time he had helped her train. In all honesty, he was worried about her. They usually talked at least once every couple of days but lately, it was more silent between them than anything. “Hey.” Flynn said as he looked around to see if anyone else was in her house. “It’s going fine.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly. “How come I haven’t heard from you in a few days?” 

Naomi pursed her lips together as he spoke, clearly looking around her place like he was expecting to see someone or something of interest. She didn’t think much of it, instead, she stepped to the side. “You can come in if you’d like.” She offered softly, not used to having company for the last few days. At his question she chewed on the inside of her cheek, shutting the door once he was inside. “I, uh, needed some time to try and figure some shit out.” Naomi moved through her house, seating herself on the sofa, legs crossed underneath her. “Not time from you, specifically, just... time alone.” Did she tell him about Zachariah right now? Now’s as good of a time as ever, she supposed. “I went to Zachariah. He has always questioned me about my ability.” She started, refusing to look at him. “I thought he might know of some tricks to help me learn control faster.” She swallowed thickly, thinking back. “He did, technically. But, uh,” She shook her head, her emotions frustratingly building. “I could have killed him.”

Brianna blinked at the girls rapid fire line of questions, leaning back in her chair as she ran them off. “To the best of my knowledge, the plan is still for release when it is safe for residents here out there. Once there’s a cure.” She nodded as  she spoke, leaning forward and putting her folded arms across her desk. “Everyone would be released. The goal of the time here is to get your power to a place of control for that release.” Bri tilted her head as she finished, appraising the girl’s expression. 

Naomi blinked in disbelief. They were still planning on throwing everyone to the curb. She was getting angrier and more frustrated as this conversation went on. Not necessarily at Brianna, but at TRP as a whole. So fucking stupid. She thought to herself. “I’ve been here for almost ten years.” She started to explain, her tone short and clipped, “And I don’t have fantastic control of my power. I cannot be in the outside world for the safety of literally everyone else. There is no way in hell I can get it under control in the time it takes to find a cure. What the fuck am I supposed to do?” 

@naomixpatton​

Flynn hadn’t heard from the radiation manipulator in a while. Longer than a week. And in his book, that was too long, especially when he recently helped her train with her power. Was she upset with him? Was she uncomfortable about what happened? Did she not want to train with him anymore? Questions swarmed in his head as he walked towards her apartment, raised his closed hand, and knocked on the door. 

He wouldn’t be upset if she wanted to stop training with him, but he advised heavily against it. There wasn’t many people that could withstand her power in the town and he wanted to be one of the ones to continue to help her. But he wouldn’t pressure her. “Naomi?” He asked, his voice raised, as he knocked again.

After the entire ordeal with Zachariah, Naomi needed some alone time. To really think about what she was supposed to do with her power and how to train it. She had completely isolated herself for a week, no contact with anyone. Clearly, Flynn was concerned enough to seek her out. 

Hearing a knock on her door, she elected to ignore it until she heard Flynn’s voice and another knock. Better to explain things now so he didn’t think she was upset with him. Standing up, she moved to the door, swinging it open to reveal herself. She had a baggy sweatshirt and sweatpants sitting low on her hips, clearly not keeping herself in top condition. Tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear, she looked up at him. “Hey.” She said softly. “How’s it, uh, going?

Zachariah took a risk, and decided to hold on. Everything screamed at him to let go, valuing his own life over helping the girl but he wanted to show her that she could do this, and he believed she could. “Not at all.” He grinned, his demeanour the complete opposite of the females. Zachariah decided to push it, just an extra ten seconds. That was all that was needed to show her that she had a chance if she got this under control. “Maybe, but I believe you can go ten more seconds.” He held there, until forty seconds had passed instead of thirty, and let go– like he’d said he would.

Zachariah clenched his jaw, and in a split second he had reached out towards Naomi and grabbed her wrist, grip harsh so she couldn’t shake him off. “What you gonna do when you get to thirty seconds, Naomi? Because I’m not letting go. You have control then, hmm? Focus! Imagine something blocking your power, keeping it within the skin, a force field around your body making sure the radiation doesn’t seep out.”  Was he bluffing about not letting go? Not even Zachariah knew, yet.

Naomi let out a loud, involuntary gasp when he grabbed onto her wrist. “What the fuck are you doing?! Are you insane?” Her words were shouted as she tugged hard, trying to get out of his grip before the thirty seconds were up. “Do you have a death wish?” She could feel the radiation threatening to seep out of her pores, ready to poison Zachariah for his touch. Naomi was panicking now, “Seriously, you need to let go! I’m going to kill you!” Her feet were gaining no traction on the ground as she pulled, desperate to get out of his grasp. The thirty seconds were quickly dwindling, the radiation pushing at her skin, ready to break. “Let go!”

“Of course.” Bri cleared her throat, settling the stack of files onto her lap into an unstable tower and folding her hands on top of them for at least some support. She’d talked to Naomi maybe a handful of times, at most over all of her years in Grimstone. But she was glad to see the girl there now, conflict evident on her face. “What can I help you with, Naomi?”

Naomi couldn’t explain it, but her temper was rising. She was so frustrated with the lack of information available to them. “Is there anything else you can give us? What happens when and if they find a cure? Are they still releasing us? What about those of us who are ‘unreleasable’ or who can’t leave without putting everyone’s lives in danger? What happens to us?” 

“So you don’t ever want to be hugged? Kissed? Fucked?” Zachariah asked, raising his brow as he shook his head at the girl. “The point was to help you with your control. There’s no point starting and ending at the point of physical contact. Then you’re not training or practising anything.” 

“That’s none of your business.” She said with a stern finger pointed at him. “I have no problems controlling physical touch, I’m saying it’s not going to work if you make me hold on to someone. I practice every day, I need enough control so I’m not oozing radiation constantly.” Shaking her head, she took a step toward him. “Contrary to popular belief, I don’t want to hurt people.”

She’d been putting off paperwork, something she always seemed to do in times of stress. Brianna threw herself into the people that came to see her, neglecting to document most things until she couldn’t avoid it any longer. And now, it would seem that she couldn’t. There was a huge pile of manila folders stuffed full in the lone clear spot she had designated for her coffee mug. She groaned, melting into her chair and pulling the stack into her lap to begin working through. Bri was pulled from her wallowing only by a knock on the open door. She sat up straighter, smiling a little like a kid who’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, “Yes? Can I help you?”

Naomi hadn’t really talked to Brianna a lot before, but she needed to talk to someone who knew what was going on. Approaching the door, she leaned on the frame, waiting for the woman to notice her. After a few impatient moments, she knocked. “I just had a few questions about the chaos and was wondering if you knew anything that could help me?”

“You could be in that situation. Many people here could put you in that situation. I could, and I would. That’s how I learned. People were dying and I learned to keep control of it because lives depended on it. That’s how you have to learn with aggressive powers like this.” Zachariah insisted, raising his brow. “If you can’t do that, then I can’t help you.”

Naomi scoffed again. “Are you serious? I can control it up until the point of contact. There is no reason for me to have to be in physical contact with someone.” Shaking her head, she threw her arms up in the air, letting them hit her sides. “Fine. I don’t need your help then.” She knew this was a stupid idea, why would she let herself talk to him?

The moment he said yes, Flynn let his own power disappear. He let out a breath, trying not to show her how much that had taken out of him. He had more endurance than when he first discovered his power, but that didn’t mean using his power didn’t cause some draining of his energy. 

He lowered himself to her level and watched as she wiped her cheeks. “Hey–” Flynn reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder. He squeezed it softly. “Don’t apologize.” He insisted, his voice soft as he tilted his head, trying to make eye contact with her. “We all need times where we let go. This was your time. There’s no need to be ashamed of that.” 

Still, as exhausted as she was, Naomi flinched at the feeling of contact on her shoulder. His words were supposed to make her feel better, but they didn’t. She still felt just as shitty as before, now she was just too exhausted to fight. So, she agreed with him regardless. “Okay. Thank you.” Her eyes met his finally, as she started to stand back up. “Hopefully, the grass will regrow. It’s, uh, a toss up, though.” 

“Wow, do you can’t even get laid? That sucks. Now I feel like I just have to help you.” Zachariah teased as he looked over the other. “What if I told you your life depended on it, or there’s? What if you had to hold physical contact with them or you’d both die anyway? Could you do it?” He could test that out, if he really wanted. Maybe he should. She would only be able to perform under pressure. It was how he learned, it’s how she had to learn. He had no other way to teach her.

Naomi rolled her eyes at his immediate comment. “I don’t want your pity.” She took a step back as soon as he finished speaking, worried about what he would do next. Shaking her head, she had a sort of panicked look in her eye. “N-no, I couldn’t. Why...why would that even be a scenario? I would never put myself in that sort of situation in the first place.” Maybe this was a mistake. “This theoretical person would die regardless.”