#askwillet

Mind pleasantly sluggish, she hummed contently against her partner’s lips, his hands massaging pleasurable small circles against the swell of her hips. Her own hands had shoved off his hood, fingers entangled in his hair, tugging firmly, but not too hard when he moved down to her neck and sucked just a little bit too enthusiastically.

“No marks,” she chastised breathlessly. He groaned at the raw sound of her voice, nuzzling his face into her neck, and placing a small kiss over the abused spot. He pulled her closer, pressing her flush against him, taking a moment to catch his breath.

“Sorry,” he chuckled against her skin, not sounding sorry at all.

She rolled her eyes, before pulling his face away from her neck and brushing slightly swollen lips against equally swollen lips. These kisses were slow and soft but made her blood boil just as much as their earlier rougher kisses.

One of his hands had moved up to cup the back of her neck gently and he pulled back to take a moment to stare into her eyes. Dark blue eyes met with brown. He grinned up at her and the corners of her own lips were beginning to tug into a smirk of her own when his next words hit her as if she had been punched:

“I love you.”

She pushed against him, forcing herself out of his grip. She saw how his kiss-drunk grin morphed into a look of hurt as she put distance between them. He reached out towards her but she pulled back as if his touch could burn her. As if it would break the carefully constructed personna that she could never quite master without the mask.

“I’m sorry,” he tried to soothe her.

“You’re lying,” she gritted out, pushing away from him and turning to glare down at the street below. “You’re not sorry at all!”

Her hands shook. He just had to ruin the bit of good they had together with silly attachment and feelings.

He frowned, his pained expression turning hard with determination as he took a step towards her. “You’re right. I’m not sorry. I’m not sorry at all for loving you.”

She spun around on her heel, stomping angrily across the short distance between them to jab a finger at his chest.

“You don’t know me! You don’t even know my name. My real name! I don’t know yours! How can you love a stranger!”

His temper was quick as he grabbed her wrist, tugging her closer to him. “And whose fault is that, huh? Haven’t I proven that you can trust me?” He growled, frustrated, his heart always worn on his sleeve.

Frustrated, her eyes glowed and he only had a second to brace himself as one of her force fields sprung up between them, throwing him against the cement side of the rooftop’s entrance. Hands a glow with violet energy, she watched as he sat up, releasing a stream of curses under his breath as he rubbed his bruised shoulder (and pride).

A scowl was etched on his face as dark blue eyes once again met with brown, both pair of eyes surrounded by the black material of their masks.

“I think that was uncalled for, Nix,” Warp muttered getting to his feet again. “I love you, but-”

“No!” She yelled, covering her ears as if his words were deadly (and to a certain extent, they were). “You don’t get to say that!”

Tears were streaming down her face and he suddenly couldn’t be angry with her. Warp gently removed Nix’s hands from over her ears, thumbs rubbing slow circles over the back of hers. “Tell me what you want me to say.”

She bit back a sob, the thought that he was too good for her running multiple times through her head. Maybe they should be honest with each other, remove the masks like bandages and just be done with it. He was her partner. She trusted him with her life when they were fighting crime to protect their city. They had worked together for so long they were able to anticipate each other’s thoughts and move in perfect sync.

She loved him. He was her trusted partner and only friend when the mask was on. But, when the mask was off…

Images of another pair of brown eyes, and without a mask, floated through her mind and she felt her heart clench. When the mask was off she was no longer Nix. When the mask was off, she was just Violet Parr, just a struggling college student. When the mask was off, her heart belonged to another...even though she was sure he didn’t even know she existed...

And that thought made the tears actually fall and the sobs were louder as she clung on to Warp, her partner, the man who did love her, the man she selfishly clung to knowing she couldn’t reciprocate his feelings but from whom she took greedily all that he offered her.

Violet hated herself. She was the worst. She didn’t deserve his loyalty or his love or the soothing murmurs he whispered into her ears as he held her closely until her sobs subsided.

“Tell me what you want me to say,” he said with so much love and care and devotion that she nearly broke.

She was selfish. So so selfish. She felt a recurring feeling of self-loathing as she kissed one corner of his mouth before kissing the other, a shallow breath escaping his lips.