Title: A Man's Touch.
Disclaimer: I don't own Legion, at all. Nor do I make any sort of money from this. A person can dream, though.
Summary: A sequel to 'First Apartment'. Phantom Girl finds herself asking Timber Wolf for another big favor. As if she didn't owe him enough already…
This is dedicated to the loving sweethearts that reviewed this fic's predecessor. I was in such a good mood after reading your reviews, I just had to write this. Love you guys!
"…Did you lose a bet with your hair stylist, or something?"
Standing just outside Legion headquarters in his civilian wear, black pants and an orange T-shirt that looked like it had been in the washer too many times with its rather faded outlook and the bleach stains he hadn't been able to get out along the sleeve that looked like the shirt had white freckles, Timber Wolf smiled down at Phantom Girl—or Tinya, seeing as she was also in civilian wear—as she simply frowned in a despairing way at him.
She was dressed in a simple black pencil skirt with diagonal white stripes and a white button-up shirt with a front that looked as if someone had taken a can of whipped cream and sprayed it all along her chest line. There was no doubt in his mind that Tinya had gotten the clothes from her mother, but was still questioning how her hair had gone from the gorgeous ebony color he suddenly realized made her look like herself, to a very peculiar mix of ashen blonde, salmon pink, white as clouds and an orange that would put Cham to shame, at the ends of her hair. She looked like a used paintbrush.
Her hand, also covered in colors to match her hair he noted, tugged at her hair ends a moment and she seemed to decide that telling him would be far less appealing than he thought it was.
"No," she said, "I went shopping for paint for my apartment. The guy who was re-stocking the aisle I was in had a bit of an accident and down came the paint onto the floor, into the cart I was using and some even landed on top of my head."
Brin winced at this admission. A paint can was rather heavy, he could only guess how much it would hurt if one landed on his own head, let alone his teammate.
"How long did it take you to wash most of it off?"
"Five hours."
Brin smiled, patting her atop the head affectionately. It had been two weeks since she'd moved into her apartment, but since she hadn't had a day off from Legion duties since then, all she had to furnish the place was her bed, the one dresser she'd had in her old room, her clothes and some little bits and pieces that were meant for decoration. He could imagine that since she now had a little time off, three days he believed, she wanted the place to actually look lived in and to her personal tastes.
And this all meant that she would need help, seeing as she looked like she'd been in a paintball war and lost when the other side had used the sort of dye bombs the insurance companies gave to banks in the event of a robbery. She had enough to deal with without be ridiculed by furniture dealers and wherever else she was going.
"Would you please come with me again?" she all but begged, wringing her hands together before him as though pleading to God.
Giving her his most appealing smile (not all that hard to do, considering nothing he had done, including throw her into a wall while in full wolfman form, had managed to dissuade her from coming around him all the time) the tall teenager gave her a compassionate nod and offered her an arm. She gladly took it and led the both of them in a direction he vaguely remembered, but couldn't quite put an ending destination to.
"We just have to make a small stop and pick someone else up."
"The Legion of Substitute Heroes…seriously?"
Giving Brin a rather deadpan, but still pathetic look, Tinya sighed, "We're just picking up one of them. Just one, I promise. He should be waiting in their gym…wherever that is."
Brin nodded, somewhat dubious, but followed her inside the…rather odd looking complex to anyone who had never been there before.
The Subs (as Lightning Lad had started calling the small collection of heroes that were recommended here for training from Bouncing Boy and Karate Kid after the group had assisted in some mentionable battles) had been given about an acre of land near the riverfront to build a headquarters to train and house recruits. It consisted of a dorm, meeting/dining hall and an indoor/outdoor gym and had been built by the founding members.
The entire place was made out of very durable stone compounds Stone Boy had sculpted and directed once he had started developing his powers to react away from his body for long distance contact fights and the like, and the place gave a person the vibe of being in an above ground rabbit warren or human sized bee hive. That was on the inside, but outside, it sort of looked like a three story sized squid head in the contrasting colors of cherry and sea green. Of course, Color Kid had done most of the decorating.
It sort of made sense that Phantom Girl had asked the black eyed, chipper boyfriend to the less than talkative Stone Boy to assist her and Brin.
Passing through the long and insanely misdirecting halls, as luck would have it, they found the gym (rather like a Roman coliseum with half of it crumbled out into the world through means of either one of the Subs or Stone Boy's own construction) with Color Kid doing practice runs with his powers.
The teen was focusing on a patch of black painted onto the ground and after a few seconds, the paint rose up from its position, a long strip of liquid movement with the mannerisms of a snake, and directed it around himself. It covered him in a sort of sphere, obstructing him from their vision, before the black parted around his head and dribbled into a perfect circle around him. It was very unlike the last time they had seen him use his abilities and rather impressed them, if only a little.
"Color Kid?" Tinya spoke up, moving his attention from the ground to look up at them, rather surprised. His facial features moved from that sort of forlorn look he had (like he hadn't done what he'd intended to do) to its perkiness, laugh lines prominent and dimples pronounced in his smile. Whatever he had been thinking could be put aside for another time.
"Phantom Girl! I see Timber Wolf agreed to this venture you've had planned today?"
"Yeah," she smiled back, patting Brin on the shoulder to demonstrate her gratitude for Brin enduring this. It was true that he seemed to get along with the Subs whenever a couple of them visited the Legion HQ, but that was usually only including Porcupine Pete and Stone Boy. Tinya really didn't know how well Brin could handle someone as talkative and sunny as Color Kid, "Are you ready to go?"
"I was born ready," the whole black eyed young man replied. He raised his right hand and, rather similar to a magician in the old days of stage magic from long before anyone of them were ever born, snapped his fingers. His black pants thinned so they were more form fitting, the belt loops and little gold metal button that held it together became visible, as they had always been there only more so now, his black shirt also thinned and as a bonus changed color to a sort of maroon with the collar receding back and matching the whole shirt's color. The after affects left the teen looking like a sort of cowboy, minus the hat.
Both of the two Legionnaires blinked back astonishment and just sort of allowed him to lead the way back out. It was much shorter leaving the place than it was to enter. But, that was more to do with the fact that they were both thinking how freaking well Bouncy and Karate Kid had been training everyone than the fact that Color Kid actually knew his way around the place.
Golden eyes narrowed dubiously at the three pieces of furniture Tinya had already picked out from catalogues her mother had forced on her in another attempt at making the short girl appreciate her help. As far as Brin was concerned (and Color Kid, if the way he was scratching the back of his head nervously was anything to go by) Winema should just stop trying to help Tinya with these sorts of things.
One of the sofas was…well, Brin was pretty sure it was plagiarized from the national history museum. It was really small, barely half of Tinya's size, an ugly brown color and looked like it was made out of wood that would break the second someone sat on it. The second sofa was made of iron and had plastic covering the pillows that people were supposed to sit on. And, last but not least, the chair she had chosen looked like a banana, peeled and all yellow with one brown colored spot along the back.
"I'm sorry," Brin finally gave in, looking on at poor Tinya as she twiddled her fingers and looked miserable before the furniture, "But…no, Tinya. Just NO."
"Where did you get these, anyway," Color Kid asked, poking at the Banana chair disdainfully. Being someone who could decorate for dignitaries—and had on many occasions in the last couple months—the sight of these objects was enough to make him gag.
Tinya spun and pointed at the front of the store where a large, insanely well-lit window displayed seven identical twins to these monstrosities before them. A few pairs of snobby rich people were eyeing the objects, some sales bimbos smiling and pointing out just why these were the latest craze, and of all the things, the price tags are what stood out the most. Four digit prices for these?
The boys turned back to her and, as though through a basic instinct to spare her anymore humiliation, led her out of the wide, bright and all too clean smelling halls of this furniture store that her mother had a twelve month magazine subscription to. They had some shopping of their own to do, without the help of the Madame President.
Tall ceilings, many open floored rooms for viewing only separated by concrete and railings that looked like they belonged on the side of highways back in the 21st century, Tinya wondered at everything held within it. Not one thing within these walls had not been used at least once in its existence and pinned to each piece of furniture and clothing and painting was a provenance that told of a history.
Still, it was hard to get passed why the place was called a flea market…
"No, Tinya, there are no parasitic insects here," Brin assured her once more, pressing the cherry slushy he had bought her from the vendor around the front of the warehouse into her hands as he sucked on his straw, tasting grape and blue raspberry mix divinely along his taste buds, "If there were, do you really think I would step foot in the door?"
"No," she professed, watching Color Kid go from one piece to another, then come back around to look at her, look at Brin and then go right back to looking at some other things. He seemed quite a bit happier than he had been in that other building. It seemed that Tinya and Brin were as well, considering that her hip kept gravitating towards his until her left side was touching his right and his arm kept placing itself atop her shoulders. To any onlooker, one would think that they were a couple shopping together, but they didn't even notice that they were doing it until one of them noticed the other's body heat forming alongside their own like a blanket. Then, if the other noticed at the same time, they would disengage for about five minutes, until it happened again.
This sort of thing had been happening a lot lately, it's just that neither of them wanted to actually talk about it and make it real. They did it when they were in Legion HQ, on missions together and especially on their days off that they spent together, but Tinya didn't want to speak about it for fear of making Brin uncomfortable and Brin didn't want to talk about it because he thought he might scare Tinya off.
Five more minutes into walking around the compound, both teens ignorant of the contact (or secretly enjoying it, one could never know for sure in Brin's case) stopped and watched as Color Kid came rushing back and grabbed Tinya's hand with a hyper happy look on his face. It actually would have freaked her out, had she known him a little less than she had gotten to these days.
"Omigosh, I just found the perfect things for you! Come see, come see, come see!"
Neither of them had time to respond as she was bodily picked up and hauled over the shorter teen's shoulder as he took off back to what he had deemed as perfect for the girl. Timber Wolf just barely caught her slushy in this motion, but he did and quickly followed after them. He shared an identically freaked out look with Tinya as the happy Sub bounded through the store. A look that plainly stated whether or not they were both questioning their bringing this nut with them.
After a grand total of thirty seconds, Color Kid stopped and gently (much more gently than when he had picked her up) deposited Tinya back to the ground, her feet stumbling for a second from vertigo. It didn't last long, though, since Brin was right there to keep her standing and gave Color Kid a little annoyed look that went completely unnoticed by the Sub. The teen was too preoccupied with swishing his arms back and forth before what he had found, like some preppy little teenager stating to a crowded stadium who had scored a point in football or something.
Steady, steady, Tinya turned back towards Color Kid, in presentation of his treasures and found herself…stunned.
Before the three of them was a perfectly rectangular sofa with a white wooden frame that embraced it along the bottom, back and arms, laced with silken cushions that looked so tempting to sit upon that Tinya leaned down and ran her hand along it like rubbing a cat. Oh, the feeling that came as a result had her shiver a little. She noted the four chains that were bolted to each of the four corners and made the curiosity known to Color Kid, whom in all honesty seemed to know what he was doing.
"This is called a Pier Sofa. You choose a spot to place it in your apartment and bolt the chains to the ceiling," the chipper Sub explained, "It not only serves as a sofa or bed, but it serves as a sort of indoor hammock for those of us that like the freedom of levitating off the floor. I know the colors aren't to your preference, but—"
"No," Timber Wolf spoke, as Tinya was still running her hands along the lining of this awesome thing Color Kid had found, "I'll think she'll take it."
Color Kid smiled at how sure the wolfman seemed of this, still watching Tinya as she moved onto the next piece. This one was a table that would sit in the middle of the room if the girl chose; a long, lithe thing made purely of pewter silver metals all along its framework right up until its center, made of a polished wood that Timber Wolf could smell to be of apple and perhaps something else mixed along the center, like holly. The craftsman had obviously been talented in their workings.
"Oh, you're good at this," Tinya sighed, moving to the last two items, eyes gliding meticulously over them.
The last two items were identical. They were sort of like a mix between chairs and sofas, both probably able to comfortably seat two people at once and could make a single occupant quite happy. They were obviously wooden, but covered in a sort of feathery compound, the arms arching outwards like waterfalls and the backs were plump and stitched to push towards the occupant. Both were old, but still beautiful in their ways.
The two Legionnaires looked at Color Kid and within a blink, just as he felt that they didn't like them, Timber Wolf gave him a hearty pat on the back, like the accessory oriented young man had was more like Cham than anything else, and Tinya straight on, flat out tackle/hugged him screaming, "Thank you, thank you, you little genius!"
The younger teen blushed and, after looking up at Timber Wolf with his slight frown and crossing arms, detached Tinya from his form but smiled as they both got up from where they had landed on the floor with her enthusiasm.
"Oh, and there's one last thing," he smiled, sneaking over behind some screens used in some oriental restaurants for color or to give occupants privacy. When his form reemerged, he was holding a very large painting, twice his own size, and pushing it out for both Legionnaires to see.
The portrait was framed in a sort of silver metal, all French romantic and line, but the actual painting was what made Timber Wolf and Phantom Girl still next to each other. In striking colors that sort of mixed here and there when paint met brush was what appeared to be a wolf with a grey and brunette coat walking upon two legs and cradling in his arms a young woman. The woman looked like a strange, but beautiful combination between Snow White and Red Riding Hood; her eyes were closed in what could pass as sleep, skin the color of snow, hair long and luxuriant in ebony and body decked out in a flowing red and black dress. Both of the characters were in a forest in the midst of winter, but seemed content.
Color Kid wouldn't comment on it, but as Tinya complimented and thanked the Sub for his choices and assistance, he noticed her tiny hand find Brin's and give it a little squeeze, him reciprocating the act immediately.
The Substitute hero knew he'd chosen the right painting. Even if it was stuck in the back of the warehouse and he'd had to pry it out from between a portrait of Sleeping Beauty and a portrait of Neverland, he knew this one was right.
"Thank you for the teleporter Brainy," Tinya drawled into her link, other hand digging a finger into her other ear as Brin and Color Kid argued over which color would be better for the living room walls, "Yeah, I know it was inconvenient…yes, I know this was a lot of trouble for you…yes, I know, Brainy, that's why I bribed you with sweets…uh-huh, I'll see you later Brainy…bye!"
Flustered beyond her usual limits by the green Coluan, Tinya cut the connection and put her communicator in its rightful place: next to her keys and wallet, hanging on tiny little pegs she had hammered into the wall her first week in the building.
Sighing, she took a seat on the little spinning barstool she had in her kitchen next to the island. She placed her head in her hands and allowed an extremely amused smile to form along her mouth as Color Kid changed her walls (now set beautifully behind her new furniture like a background to a fairy story) from the simple beige color it had always been to cucumber and spinach green.
Timber Wolf growled a little at this move, spinning to turn to Tinya, his face just serving to amuse her more, "Tinya, you cannot actually like living with walls that look like they came in a salad dish, you just can't!"
"It's not my choice," Tinya assured, not moving, "The superintendent said that he'd lower my rent only if I had the walls painted the colors that he liked."
"And he likes his walls looking like a salad dish?" Brin deadpanned, holding up the little slips of paper she had given Color Kid to choose from. Three were green and one was a sort of ugly grey color labeled 'seaborn skies.'
"Why don't you guys compromise," she suggested, eyebrows raised, "Just color one wall with each of the greens and then trim down the edges with the grey? You know, pattern play."
Timber Wolf grumbled, but did as she asked. He took some tape from one of her drawers (funny how after he'd only been there a couple times he knew the place almost as well as she did) and taped one slip of green to each of the wall. The wall near her room would be cucumber, the one near the bathroom would be spinach and the one that was wholly for the living room with its windows cast upon her new furniture and their beautiful (she couldn't help but think them beautiful for some reason) figures would be snow pea. Timber Wolf actually liked the snow pea color, Tinya suspected, or he wouldn't use that as a base color for the center room.
Color Kid did as suggested, fingers gliding along the walls and their edges to add on the grey with lines and motion, and as he finished, he stood back to admire their work.
The Pier Sofa hung near the wall with the windows, the table five feet in front of it and the chairs on either side. Tinya didn't have a television set (why would she need it when she mostly just came to the place to sleep, eat and spend time with friends) so there was a bookcase—or datacase as it were—against the wall leading to the bathroom and the portrait they had gotten was hanging on the wall to the bedroom. Though the Brin had done the heavy lifting, Color Kid had to admit that the layout Tinya had chosen was perfect for all things.
"You have a wonderful apartment, Phantom Girl," Color Kid complimented, taking a seat for the first time on the Pier Sofa, his tiny bulk swinging it a little and reminding him why he had showed her this.
"Thank you," Tinya blushed, eyes looking not from the Sub, but from Brin to the portrait. She hadn't stopped looking from one to the other since they had all left the store and Color Kid couldn't help it as the next words out of his mouth were inappropriate, because they needed saying. He may not have known either of them very well, but he knew puppy love (pardon the expression) when it was holding a sign the size of a mac truck in front of him and the general public at large.
"So, when's Brin here going to move in with you?"
Both, not one, but both of the Legionnaires stared at him for the longest minute of his life, Timber Wolf with his blinding gold eyes wide and freaking out and Phantom Girl with a sort of look one would expect from someone on their way to the gas chamber. Apparent to everyone but each other.
Tinya just sort of coughed for a moment, but finally when words came out of her mouth, they were sort of nervous and reflexive, "I…I beg your pardon?"
Color Kid smiled knowingly, finger pointing from the much taller, much more masculine teen and then to the tiny ghost of a girl, "Bouncy and all of the other Subs have a bet going on back at our base. Half of us think that neither of you will ever admit your feelings to each other and half of us think that you'll move in together within the month. So, which is it?"
If it was possible for two people to blush enough that they may pass out from the rush of blood to the head, the two of them were rapidly growing close to it. Tinya had covered her entire face with her hands and Brin was trying to maintain calm, and failing miserably with his entire form getting all stiff and ears pointing down. Color Kid found it all quite hilarious.
Amazingly, Tinya was the first to speak up, getting out of her seat and walking to the door for her wallet, "Um, just let me get your fee and we'll uh…can you leave? I need to talk with Brin."
"Okie Dokie!" Color Kid chirped, jumping from his spot, almost skipping to the door, taking only half of Tinya's credits, giving her a little pat on the shoulder, only to disappear out the door with the after-echoes of him whistling down the staircase to her apartment.
He would hopefully not only win the bet his teammates had going, but from this experience could also make two of his (hopefully) future teammates happy with each other.
Fifteen minutes of not looking directly at each other did not help to make the situation any less awkward. Nor did the twiddling of fingers, nor the scratching of the neck and ears. If anything, it made the situation worse.
After a little while, Tinya finally took a seat on the Pier Sofa, her tiny form a little hunched in anxiousness and the chains clinked with each other and the frame moved to and fro.
"Is he…is he right, do you think?" Tinya asked quietly.
"I…" Brin hesitated, but took a standing spot before Phantom Girl, bending back until he was seated on the table and looking her directly in the eye, "I think that he could be."
"But, what would that mean, exactly? I mean, I do admit that I…" she started, but trailed off a little as another blush came upon her cheeks, making her bow her head down and shut her eyes to gives herself the ability to think and breath and not look directly at him.
Her trailing and body language seemed, at least to Timber Wolf, to make this all quite real. Whispered words in the halls back at HQ were starting to make sense, along with their often neglected physical interactions. Brin had always assumed that they were just friends who liked to hold hands and spend a lot of time together, but that didn't seem to be it. And maybe that could be a good thing.
With painstaking slowness, Brin brought a hand under Tinya's chin and without much of a preamble or a pause to assess the situation, as he was just sort of reacting to this feeling in his gut that said that this was right (damn it,) brought his own lips with his fangs that always poked out from behind them to her sleek, pleasantly dark ones.
Nothing happened. Nothing for a good long minute that seemed to stretch into eternity and (oh god no…) he had the feeling he had just ruined one of the best things that was in his life with having her in his life even if it was just as a friend-
And then she wrapped her arms around his neck and her lips were (yes, they were!) moving against his. Slow, steady, but there and relaxed and returning his affection and all of his senses felt like they were on fire with what he was taking in. He could smell and taste and feel that she wanted him. Him.
They parted for a moment, oxygen returning to their lungs like water to their bellies, and their eyes met in desire, understanding, gratitude for Color Kid opening his mouth and then their lips returned to each other. It was much stronger this time and things continued from there.
Leaning backwards, Tinya allowed him to rest on top of her body as it lie flat along the sofa, their motion causing its motion as they continued kissing, no tongues touching just yet. Their lips just remained and moved together and softly, his big hands running through her hair and all its black glory and through the speckles of color that still remained, and her tiny hands, with their remaining color from what she couldn't get off in the shower kneading his muscles along his neck and shoulders.
God, the sofa was comfortable…