Excuse me if they appear a bit out-of-character. I'm trying to imagine what they would be like given what's already happened, and this is what I came up with. It's also available on Archive of Our Own (Ao3) and my art Tumblr under the same title!
On a side note, I actually wrote this a month ago over the course of a few late nights (3AM-ish) on my phone. Figures, my art/writer's block doesn't apply to my phone-use past midnight.
Anyway, I hope you like it!
He had left his family to become a runner when he was 17-years-old, running away from his planned life as an employ and making himself a target of the Conglomerate. He remembers the harsh gaze his parents gave him the night he left, confusion and fright radiating from their pale faces in the fluorescent lights they basked in. He remembers their steel hard eyes every time he looks into his own at night.
"What are you doing with your life, Icarus?"
He had always been different, always reaching for something nobody else could see. It wasn't until the following morning that they realized just how different he was.
Two months following that faithful day, she had suddenly stopped having the same nightmare that plagued her childhood and young adult life. Instead, different ones, each more horrid and leaving her in more of a sweat than the last, plagued her already terrified mind. They made her regret her frequent prayers to stop seeing her sister's "demise" each night. She could deal with that nightmare; she was used to it by now, the guilt.
Her running had never suffered due to her nightmares before. If anything, they made her running better; her nightmares pushed her to work harder and get stronger as if to make up for the resentment she had for her younger self. Now, on the other hand, she felt an even bigger weight on her shoulders that her running couldn't lessen. Most wouldn't notice or simply would attribute any strange happenings around her to the recent loss of her father figure and the reappearance of her younger sister. However, that "most" did not include a certain, hooded runner watching her with concern.
One day with particularly poor conditions for running, she slipped up. The hair on her arms suddenly stood up straight, and her body arched awkwardly to the side beyond her will. The air escaping her lungs in seconds, she couldn't see past that moment. It wasn't until she found herself suddenly staring straight into the dismal sky above that she felt the warm body pressing her own numb one into rough concrete.
"What were you thinking?" Icarus scolded above her, clearly out of breath. "You could have died!"
His voice was so… angry. So unlike that cocky dissatisfaction he had for her when they had first met. This emotion was strong and… caring, so very caring.
Moments passed, but her stunned gaze never left his worried face. She couldn't decide if she was more shocked that she had been so removed from her surroundings or that he had literally jumped in to save her when she had needed it most.
He swallowed loudly, a bit uncomfortable under her unwavering stare.
"Here," he began, his voice a higher octave than usual. "Let's get you back home."
With the heat above her suddenly gone, her body shivered in the chilling drizzle that managed to glue her hair to her forehead.
"You're done for the day," he proclaimed once he had gotten back onto his feet.
Awakened from her stupor, she wordlessly accepted the hand offered to her.
Evidently, he too didn't trust her to stand on her own as his rough hand grasped her upper arm instinctively. In any other scenario, she knew she would have rolled her eyes and shoved him away with a witty retort. However, in that instance, she didn't feel like the Faith Conners who lived on the edge. She stumbled back, away from the building's slippery edge that had almost been her downfall. Anxiety coursed through her veins as she leaned onto Icarus for support.
It was if she was a stranger in her own body. It was as if she was having a nightmare.
She could see his stern eyes watching her shaky movements from the corners of her own, but she ignored his confusion, taking the chance to allow her mind to wander.
Was this a nightmare? She hadn't felt this scared in real life since she was a child coping with her losses under the safety of Noah's wing. If she had dropped off the side of this roof she currently padded her wet shoes across, would she have awoken? Would this have turned out to only be one long, horrible dream?
Surprised at her own dark thoughts beginning to escalate beyond the norm, she clutched at her heart, thankful for Icarus' presence guiding her into the cozy building before them.
"Home sweet home," he laughed dryly, attempting to lighten the somber mood that surrounded the thin woman about to crumble beside him.
Silence erupted yet again between the two talented runners as Icarus motioned for her to enter the building first.
"Uh… Yeah," she managed to say, pulling away from his grasp and into their hideaway. "Thanks."
He wasn't sure if she was thanking him for saving her or simply for letting her get out of the soon-to-be-pounding rain first. Either way, he replied with an easygoing "No problem," and followed her cautious steps.
Standing awkwardly in the hallway, the two peered at the plush carpet beneath them before a light bulb went on in the man's head. Icarus stepped into Noah's old office, purposely nudging Faith's shoulder with his own as he passed. Catching the signal, she too made her way into one of her favorite rooms in their home base, her discomfort slowly ebbing away by the second.
"Take a seat," he ordered with a nod as he turned the office chair around to face her.
Raising a single brow in confusion, she slowly made her way over.
"What are you-?"
"Just take a seat," he pleaded with a light chuckle, pulling her by her shoulder the rest of the way. "I'll be right back."
The tall brunet hurried out of the room, flashing her a quick smirk as he did so. Dumbfounded, she contemplated following him or retreating to her room for the day.
"Don't go anywhere!" he shouted at her from down the hall as if he could read her mind.
Scoffing at the thought, Faith settled down into the seat behind her with a small smile.
A few random papers were scattered about the large desk Noah had frequently spent hours behind. She and Icarus had decided to share a bit of his responsibilities, taking on the leadership roles for the sake of their fellow runners. However, they quickly realized why Noah had left his days of jumping from building to building to sit inside behind said desk all day. These papers with dozens of notes scribbled across them were only a small fraction of what Noah did for them.
As her mind fluttered with nostalgia concerning her late mentor, the Asian woman organized the papers into a tidy stack and promptly placed them into one of the empty drawers to be filed away later.
"Alright, here's dinner, Faith," Icarus stated, his lithe form leaning across the desk to pass her a tray of food.
Unfortunately, she had been distracted yet again, and her knee harshly whipped against the desk as a consequence.
"Shit!" they both gasped simultaneously.
"Sorry about that," he apologized, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "I, uh, brought you your dinner."
At that, her ears perked up, her stinging knee now completely forgotten.
"I figured you wouldn't be up to getting food yourself," he explained, pulling up a chair to sit opposite her.
Although she was touched that he was acting so kindly and wanted to show her appreciation, she couldn't help but be at a loss for words yet again that day. She wasn't used to this type of treatment, especially from Icarus.
Noting how tense her shoulders had gotten, he took the pudding cup from her tray of food and added jokingly, "I'll just take this in exchange. No thanks necessary."
A laugh escaped from her dry lips at that, and she snagged the stolen pudding cup back from the hooded thief smirking before her.
"Why don't you have any food?" she questioned when he attempted to steal the dessert again.
"Eh," he sighed, reclining back in his chair, "I'm not that hungry." His eyes now shut, he looked perfectly at ease.
Glancing between his relaxed expression and the highly-sought-after snack in her possession, she countered, "but hungry enough that you'd want to steal my pudding cup?"
He opened one of his eyes to see her mouth twitching upwards into a delicate smile. Closing it, he clarified, "I never said I wasn't a bit peckish."
Rolling her eyes at his playfulness, Faith tossed him the pudding cup, which he barely caught just in time before it could roll off his chest.
"I want you to have that in exchange."
After sliding a spoon over to his side of the desk, she picked up a fork and begin to dig into her own meal.
"No thanks necessary, Icarus."
They shared a short gaze in understanding before they each settled back into normal conversation.
Watching as Faith's own teasing grin made its way back onto her face, Icarus wished yet again that his family could see what he had always sought-what the world really had to offer them outside their ordinary, regulated lives planned out for them.