notfaking_it | (no subject)

It's a rare afternoon off that finds Lily grocery shopping. It's not the sort of thing she does often, given how regularly she goes out to eat instead, but it helps to have some food around the apartment for those days she doesn't feel like heading out or the days when someone else might just want to stay inside.

She's come straight from rehearsal, still dressed in her tights and a long sweater, her hair pulled back from her face. This isn't the girl she usually presents to the world either, fresh faced and a hell of a lot more innocent looking than she usually is, but it's fun in its own way. She even feels different, a little more like the person she was on the island.

When she turns down the street toward the grocery store, she lights up in a smile at the sight of Kaine coming toward her. "Well, hey there," she says, shifting her gym bag higher onto her shoulder. "It's been awhile." She hasn't gone looking for him, but she certainly hasn't been avoiding him either. Not after that night.

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"I don't talk about my deal," I say as we walk. "Really."

I don't mean to be rude, I just don't mean to be polite either. It's a perfectly natural question, but I'm not going to answer it. I could lie to her and make something up, but that's seems stupid and needlessly inconsiderate. I imagine she'll take it in stride and lying to her would imply i don't respect her, which I do.

If there's anything Lily likes, it's having to dig things out, but she's good at it, too. She can take her time. She can be patient.

"I'm sure you're just a tangled web of a deal," she teases, but she doesn't ask again. Instead, she says, "But I guess we all are in our own way."

"I guess so," I say with a nod.

I admit that some people have had a rough life. I even admit that quite a few have had it rougher than I have. But I highly doubt many people's lives are a more tangled web than mine. "Clone" all by itself is a giant fucking tangled.

Somehow I get the feeling that Lily's not talking about daddy issues though. Or at least I get the sense that she has some sort of idea of genuine struggle.

"What about you? What's your story?"

"My story," Lily repeats, wondering what she could tell him. There's Nina, how sick she was, the way Lily leaned on her and pushed her until she broke. There's the island, the things that happened there, the people she fell in love with even if she never told them.

"My story's pretty boring," she says, because Nina's story isn't hers to tell and the island is another life. "Dancer, I moved around a lot. I like manipulating people into thinking they're doing what they want when they're really doing what I want."

"Charming."

I hate being manipulated. It's a thing with me. Now, of course, I'll be suspect about everything that she does. Maybe I should have been before now. The thing about people who manipulate others is they rarely seem like assholes at first glance.

"I used to move around a lot too."

At the single word, Lily smiles brighter at him, more amused than anything. It's amazing to her most of the time just how many people want to be manipulated and have no idea.

"Yeah?" she asks instead. "Why's that?" Her story there is pretty boring, too, if only because she moved mostly for work and mostly because she was easily bored.

"Just didn't like staying in one place."

There was more to it. Jobs that took me to others cities, running after Ben for the first part of my life. Being hunted for multiple murders.

"Never really voluntarily stayed in one place very long until Houston."

"What was special about Houston?" Lily asks, looking over at him. Maybe it's nothing at all. The only reason she ever stayed in one place for very long was because of work. That was enough, but it was never anything particularly special about a place beyond the fact that they had a good company.

A girl. Aracely had been the reason I initially stayed. Then it became something else. Responsibility bullshit and some other things I don't even want to think about because then I'll hate myself.

"I don't even know," I say. "The weather is miserable, the people are too nice. Just haven't ended up leaving yet. Plus, no superheroes."

"And remind me, was that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asks. She's never had to think about superheroes at all, let alone in terms of good or bad, but the island has helped her adjust her way of thinking in plenty of areas.

"Good thing. I don't like superheroes."

That's one nice thing about this place, the distinct lack of them. Cass is the only other one I've really met that's all that active and she's a friend, so I don't mind her.

I'm not sure how to explain my dislike of them to Lily though. Not that I have to, but I imagine that question is coming next.

"Too much destruction. No aliens ever use Santa Fe or something as ground zero for an attack."

"I guess it depends what world you live in. No aliens ever used New York as ground zero for an attack where I'm from," she answers. "Or any other city, as far as I know. That's the sort of thing I think I would remember."

And it's the sort of thing she thinks it's all that easy to cover up. It's a little too big.

"That's good, it's really a pain in the ass."

It was also dangerous, but I'm sure she can figure that out for herself. No aliens come because they want to help us out with all our problems. If they do, it's usually just a trick.

Lily gives a snort of laughter as they arrive at the pizza restaurant and tilts her head slightly, looking at Kaine. "Sounds like the sort of thing that's actually an understatement," she says as she pushes the door open with her hip, a little bell above their heads tinkling as they walk inside. "Missing your train is a pain in the ass."

"You think any trains run on time when the Skrulls invade?" I ask, arching an eyebrow as I follow her into the pizza place and try not to think too much about that movement of her hips.

"Or some asshole thinks stilts are a superpower and he can rob a bank with them and suddenly the subway you need to use is closed for the day."

Lily laughs as she slides into a booth, putting her bag down by her feet. "Stilts?" she asks, then shakes her head. "No, you're right, I'm glad I haven't had to spend all my life dealing with superheroes or supervillains or aliens."

"Four. Four dumb asses were Stilt-Man," I say, shaking my head. It's pathetic and a sad state of affairs when you consider a world that is so inundated with heroes and villains someone is Stilt-Man.

"Including. I shit you not: Lady Stilt-Man."