Content Warning: emotional manipulation, assault
Dumping Kelley onto the floor in the back, he knelt so that they were on eye-level. "Sweetheart, look at me. Come on, I just wanna talk." The kid's lower lip was bruised and swollen just off-center, and it trembled while he fought to keep looking away. Barely visible above the wide straps of his tank-top sat the dark dot from the ketamine injection the previous day. Dried tear-tracks marked his face. Avery rested his hand on Kelley's cheek, waiting for him to lean into the touch. "You know why I didn't want you talking about it, especially with them. Remember last time?" He laughed—soft, short, and fond. Kelley brought a hand up to cover his, turning his face into the palm.
"I thought he could help me."
"I know," he murmured, brushing his free hand through Kelley's hair. "I know. But you have to trust me."
Kelley made a noise of protest at the statement, probably thinking about the business card and the offer to talk. He didn't move his face from where it rested in Avery's palm.
Avery leaned closer to him. He dropped the hand sitting on Kelley's face, planting it by the other, which rested beside the kid's hips on the floor. "It's not you he cares about, Kelley. You really think that billionaire scientist and engineer Anthony Stark would care at all about some skinny little kid from Brooklyn if it weren't for his powers?" His skin sparked, but that was the only outward indication of his anger. He pressed on, grabbing at Kelley's wrists to keep him still when he tried to scoot away. "The only reason someone like him would ever look at you is because they want to use you. You may not like it, but I know better than you do. I'm older, and I've dealt with people like him my entire life. Don't let the sweet talk and pretty-boy philanthropist act fool you; if you let him get close, he will turn you into a weapon."
"No." The word came out as more of a breath.
"No human is ever going to want you for anything more than your powers," Avery said, fighting to keep the electricity contained beneath his skin so that he didn't catch something on fire again. "I did not save you just to have you go running off the first time a human is vaguely nice to you like a lamb to slaughter. You owe me your life, and you will not throw it away like this."
Kelley set his jaw, the look of disbelief and horror fading into one of frustration. "Stop talking like you own me!" He tore his hands free and got up. The ends of his ponytail started standing on end, and electricity pulsed beneath his skin. "If I think someone else can help me more than you can, then it should be my choice whether I let them or not. Just because you saved me, that doesn't mean I have to obey you!"
Hands curled into fists on the floor, head bowed, lips pressed into a tight smile, Avery took a moment to steady his breathing before he gestured at Kelley's hip. The Network's trademark skull and infinity sign barely showed above his belt, but there was no hiding it. "Everyone who wears that tattoo belongs to me." He loosened his hold on the electricity, letting it arc across his skin as he stood. If Kelley wanted to play this game, then he wouldn't hold back. "The instant someone sees it, they will know that you belong to me, and they will bring you back here. I tried to reason with you, but you're just being stupid right now!"
He'd backed Kelley into a wall, his right hand at the base of the kid's neck, nails dug in deep enough to break the skin. The arcs of electricity grew, some jumping to ground from all over his body while others withered as they contacted Kelley's skin.
They stood there, blue eyes ablaze, daring each other to make the first move.
Then Avery staggered back a step, clutching at his face. Blood ran into his mouth, and pain shot through the bridge of his nose. Kelley had hit him while pushing his hand off his neck.
Breathing ragged, Kelley stretched his hand out as if to wipe the blood away but stopped short. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It was an accident. It was just reflex. You were hurting me, and I didn't mean to- Please don't be mad, I'm sorry," he stammered, his voice choked. "I'm sorry. It was an accident. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
Avery wasn't listening, instead staring at him in disbelief. He swallowed the blood that had run into his mouth and wiped the rest off his face.
"I didn't mean to, I swear!"
His vision clouded, and his mind went blank. When the fog cleared, Kelley was on the floor, blood running down his chin and neck from where his lip had split open, a bright, angry electrical burn wrapping down his left arm. It would heal in the next few days, they both knew, but that didn't stop Kelley from crying out in pain. Crouching to inspect the contact points, he paused as he considered the sheer amount of electricity needed to burn a mutant whose entire physiology was designed to absorb it without harming him.
No, he told himself, it was better not to dwell on it.
"Get cleaned up," he ordered as he pulled Kelley to his feet. "You know where Hunter keeps the first-aid kit. And stay back here when you're done; I don't want questions."
Kelley's breath still came in gasps, right hand holding the collar of his tank top over the split in his lower lip to stifle the bleeding. He let go of the fabric to pull his injured arm to his chest, keeping an eye on Avery as he retreated to gather the first-aid items.
Once back out front, he wiped the blood he'd missed the first time off his face. He gave a stiff nod when Hunter said he was going outside to smoke, and for the first time he caught a glimpse of his injury in the mirror behind the bar counter. Surprised, he stopped, turning his head from left to right as he inspected it. There was bruising to the left of his nose, just under his eye, and there was a slight bend to the right at the bridge. A light touch to the edge of the bruise had him suck in a breath through his teeth.
Yep, definitely broken.
The club would be opening in a little less than an hour. His healing factor was impressive, even by mutant standards, but he still couldn't heal this much in so little time. Makeup it was.
Raven usually kept some foundation and concealer tucked away behind her sound booth, in case someone—namely Hunter—picked a fight they weren't ready for. He wandered over, taking the opportunity to scan through her set list and delete a few before grabbing the concealer closest to his skin tone. Applying makeup without a mirror had never been his strong suit, so he headed to the back.
Once he opened the door, there was a bit of panicked shuffling, and he looked over to find that Kelley was still working on wrapping his arm. The gauze was loose and crossed over itself, barely touching the skin in some places. Kelley gingerly pulled his arm back to his chest with a wide-eyed stare.
Shaking his head, Avery beckoned the kid over to him. "You're doing it wrong." He set the makeup down, sat on the table nearest to him, and patted the space next to him. Kelley continued staring. "I'll fix it; come here. You're so messy with this stuff."
Head down, tentative, Kelley sat next to him on the table. He was silent as he offered his wrapped arm for Avery to fix. He'd taken off his shirt, presumably because of the blood on it from the split in his lip, and up close, the fading bruise on his chest where Angel Dust had pinned him was obvious, as were the fresh, still-growing bruises on his side. "It's hard doing things alone," he said at last. His head was still down.
"I know, sweetheart."
"I'm sorry I pushed it. I know you told me no for a reason."
As he finished re-wrapping the burn, Avery scooted closer to him and tried to make eye contact. "It's okay. I forgive you. I know how silly you can be sometimes." He tucked the end of the wrap through the last loop to secure it. Until they got home and found a fastener, it would do. Hopefully tonight would be the last resurfacing of Kelley's defiant streak. The electrical burn and split lip seemed to have pushed him back to his pre-Stark self already.
Kelley looked back up, reaching out to lay his fingertips on Avery's cheekbone. His eyes narrowed while he inspected the damage he'd done. Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, a tremor went through his body, and he bit his lip lightly.
Avery pushed Kelley's hand away and placed a soft kiss on his forehead. "I have a better healing factor than you," he said. "I'll be okay. You just messed up. That's all."
"Don't leave me." The plea was so quiet that it barely registered in his hearing.
"I saved you, remember? Eleven years ago, you were just a street kid running away from everything, and now look how far you've come." He cupped Kelley's face with one hand and stroked his hair with the other. "You're so much better now. You don't need anyone else's help; you have me. You don't need anything else, trust me."
