#static fic

[I suspect you were waiting somewhere for this because you sent this IMMEDIATELY. Like I’m so impressed]

She slung her bag to the floor with a thud, ignored the clink of what was likely important metals and artifacts from her journey, and instead listened to the hollowness of her home.

For months she had wanted nothing more than to return to her own space, to just melt into her apartment again and be at peace, be alone. And just when she had settled, just when Alex had thought for certain that she was never going to get that dream, she was returned by Hades himself. Due time and all that, she supposed.

What no one bothered to tell her before her key went into the door, was that there were prices for everything.

Without her sister’s stuff, their apartment wasn’t half-empty, it was all empty. Alex didn’t decorate, she didn’t do much more than collect trinkets. And what of those she had she almost always used or had use for.

Bare shelves, bare cabinets, bare tables.

Alex closed the door behind her and stared at the running carpet and end table at the other side of the hall. Neither of those things belonged to her, but she assumed her sister had bequeathed them out of pity.

“Welcome home,” Alex told herself almost sardonically before running a hand through what was left of her short hair.

She paused mid stroke, feeling the protruding horns. “Right,” she sighed.

Months of being able to stand around in any form she pleased had almost led her to forgot that the mortal realm -- that Earth -- wasn’t nearly as forgiving about appearances.

When she reached for the closet door and looked for a good hat, her only concern was getting some takeout and staving off the need to shop for groceries by a few precious days, and she certainly wasn’t expecting to feel the vibrations of a text message in her back pocket.

Reaching for the nearest beanie, Alex used her free hand to jerk out her phone and give it a solid stare.

V_Stat: Hit me up ;-]

Alex searched her mind, remembering when she had left her phone alone to be tampered with at any point between Hell and Titans Tower, finally recalling her trip by Dakota to check on her sister. There had been a team up with Static and the Shadow Cabinet that wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

Until now, as she smacked her face and groaned.

Me: no.V_Stat: ur new here. Show u he sitesMe: no.V_Stat: Pay for dinner?

It wasn’t as if she was short on cash, but Alex hesitated. Her heart was pounding. She needed to role herself up in some Grade A self misery. She needed to scream into whatever pillows her sister left before moving for a few hours. Needed to try desperately to remember the Netflix password.

She needed distance and she needed company. She couldn’t have one with the other.

“You have a decision, Alexandria,” she grumbled to herself. “Hate yourself for a few days... or hate yourself for a few days with a cute boy around?”