"We really need to get a second bed," she says, with only the faintest whisper of humour. She tips her head to rest briefly against his shoulder, taking some comfort in the contact, before she pulls away and reclaims her seat.
"--Late. It was after midnight when I turned in, so sometime after that."
It was later still before she managed to actually sleep, and she doubts Steven slept much easier.
Probably not. Steven and sleep still don't often get along. Marc follows her, catching for her hand with his free one as he sits. "I'm guessin' you two had a talk last night. He left me a note to talk to you about it," he explains. "Didn't actually say anything else."
Layla winces a little at that. "Shit," she says. "That must've been unnerving."
She shifts her hand slightly in his, enough to lace their fingers together, comfortable and familiar.
"He's...not actually around right now, is he?" She can't actually feel his absence - it's still relatively rare that she'll sense both of them on the other end of the tether - but if Steven was present, if Steven intended to be present, surely there would've been more than a contextless note.
"Not a peep," Marc sighs. "Or I'd have interrogated him by now, myself. Don't know if that's on purpose on his part or not." It isn't really Steven's way to hide, but then, he also tends to leave some things specifically to Marc to deal with, too.
She makes a noncommittal noise at that, then falls silent for a moment, leaning over to pick up her half-empty mug in her free hand. She'd been the one who insisted they talk to Marc - and it stings a little, to be abruptly facing that solo - but she's not entirely sure how to start.
At the beginning, probably.
"Steven got into the magical cocktails last night," she says. "Not on purpose - he didn't even realize what was happening, I don't think, until I asked."
"Aw man." Marc winces. "That had to be, uh, interesting. Was everybody okay? Which one did he grab?" He can't imagine even the magic drinks turning Steven cruel, so-- shit, he can maybe guess where this is going. Did Steven actually come on to Layla?
"Yeah," Layla says. "I think he over-exerted himself a bit, clearing it from his system, but he seemed okay once he had a chance to catch his breath. You'd probably be a better judge of that than me."
Magical stamina seems, at least, to be tied to physical stamina, much as her own Heba talents are.
"It was the euphoria one. It was actually a little bit funny, at first - or maybe that was just the contact high."
"I didn't even know he could do that," Marc admits. "But I don't know how much of this tired is from the whole prepping-for-battle thing, how much is from the drink, and how much is just sleeping on the couch." Or not sleeping, as the case might be.
But given the way this is going, he need to hear more. "Go on."
One finger scratches idly at a small bubble in the mug's ceramic surface - barely a distraction, but better than nothing.
"Apparently, one of the effects it had was completely knocking out his verbal filter. We were chatting-" and oh, does she regret that little joke about handcuffs now "and he let slip that he's in love with me. I...didn't take it as well as I could have."
Marc's fingers twitch in her hand, like he wants to let go-- and he does, briefly, mostly so he can put his face in his hands-- but he realizes how that will look and squeezes her hand, instead. But he does close his eyes and groan a little. "Of course he did. And of course you didn't." It's one more secret he didn't tell her. And it's a complication to an already complicated situation.
At least the note makes sense, now. And at least it was just an accidental confession not something worse and maybe more out of character. "What happened?"
She squeezes back, which only serves to underscore the flicker of guilt from her end of the tether. She'd been unfair - not completely, but still enough to regret it a little in the light of day.
"We argued a bit - here, mostly, so there's not that floating around the camp. And talked a bit. We didn't really come to any sort of conclusion, except that avoiding each other isn't going to solve anything, and that we needed to talk to you."
The corners of her mouth crimp slightly. "Or I needed to talk to you, at least."
"Don't take that personally," Marc says, at least able to address the last part. "You know we can't really decide who's out when, half the time. He's probably just exhausted from last night."
He sets down his coffee and uses that hand to scrub his hair back, heaving a sigh. At least it's out in the open. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you," he starts with. "He really didn't want to get into it, and I--" He pauses, covers his eyes with his hand a moment, and finishes. "--I guess I was a little scared, so I didn't push it."
Layla pulls their joined hands up so she can press a kiss against the back of his. "Marc. I don't blame you for not telling me. It wasn't really yours to tell." She exhales a quiet huff of laughter. "I never thought I'd be saying this, but this particular communication gap isn't even a little bit your fault. It's Steven's, and it's mine for being - a bit willfully blind."
She pauses a moment, shifting slightly in her seat, so she's facing him more than not. "What were you afraid of?"
He shrugs, looking at their hands rather than her face, not. "Stupid shit, probably. That you'd be pissed at him and I'd have to deal with that. That you'd accept it as-- as just part of me, like he's not his own person." He sighs a bit, and finishes, "Maybe that you'd like him more than me."
"That last part's a bit stupid," she agrees, though there's no bite to it. She sets her coffee mug down, and reaches out to lay her now-free hand along his jaw, thumb tracing the line of his cheekbone. "I love you. You're my favourite person, even when you make me so furious I can't see straight."
He shuts his eyes at the touch, sighs a little. "I keep thinking the whole 'gets furious' part is gonna change your mind. Or the whole thing with the secrets." Because he still hasn't told her everything. He might never tell her anything.
He looks back up at her finally. "But that's a problem I've got, not any reflection on you. You've been great. Especially after everything back home." He sighs again, and adds, "And now this. I know it's gonna be weird."
Something oddly protective and a little bit sad flickers at her end of the tether. She strokes his cheek again, then drops her hand to cover his instead, so it's caught between both of hers.
"Weird's one word for it," she agrees. "I honestly thought he'd find some lovely, normal girl, and the hardest thing we'd have to deal with is hashing out the logistics and helping him explain that it's not cheating or an open relationship."
And she should not be feeling a sense of relief that it's not that conversation they're having. And yet.
"Is there some other word you'd rather use?" Marc asks with only a sliver of amusement for the choice. Not that it matters, he supposes. He wraps her hands in his second, so they're both holding each other. "He's been hung up on you since he met you, pretty much. Got distracted for a while, what with the dying and Khonshu and then the new world, but it never went away either."
And Marc hadn't managed to nip it in the bud when it was still in the crush phase, not for lack of trying. Possibly because his people skills are kind of lacking, and he has a hard time denying Steven things these days. Even if that includes loving the same woman.
"Overwhelming, a bit," she suggests, and blows out a quiet breath in something not quite a sigh. "Guess I haven't done much to help with that, have I?"
She certainly hasn't done much to dissuade Steven from what she'd convinced herself was nothing more than a crush.
"With-- what, with Steven?" Marc shakes his head. "That's not on you. We didn't tell you. And even if knew and you'd avoided him, that wouldn't have gone over well, either. You were just his friend. He needs those."
"No," she agrees, with a slight, rueful quirk to her lips, not quite a smile. "Avoiding him would've just made all three of us miserable. But I might've set some different boundaries if I'd been a little less oblivious."
Or maybe not - if she's being honest with herself, her boundaries have been looser with Steven than with most other friends she's had as an adult, compounding the blurred lines they'd begun with.
"No use dwelling on the past, though. We just...need to figure out how we're going to work through this."
"Yeah, I got-- I really got nothin'," Marc admits, with a kind of quiet helplessness. "I have no idea what to do. I want Steven to be happy. And I want you to be happy. I don't know what it looks like to make both of you happy, here."
That helplessness makes her heart ache - all the more so because of what he doesn't say.
"Me neither," she says, gaze dropping to their interlocked hands before flicking back up to his face. "But you're missing an important part of the equation, habibi."
His brows come together briefly, as if he doesn't know what she means, but after a beat he figures it out and has to shake his head. "You mean me? Well, I don't know how to make me happy in this situation, either," he adds on. "The only thing I got there is you not leaving me, and you seem pretty clear on that part."
"Yeah," Layla says quietly. "I am. Everything else might be a little murky, but that part's crystal clear."
She squeezes his hand, as though to underscore that statement, reassurance for herself as much as for him. Overwhelming as this might be, it's not insurmountable. They'll get through this. They just need to figure out how.
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scarabwings) wrote2022-08-14 11:52 pm
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"--Late. It was after midnight when I turned in, so sometime after that."
It was later still before she managed to actually sleep, and she doubts Steven slept much easier.
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She shifts her hand slightly in his, enough to lace their fingers together, comfortable and familiar.
"He's...not actually around right now, is he?" She can't actually feel his absence - it's still relatively rare that she'll sense both of them on the other end of the tether - but if Steven was present, if Steven intended to be present, surely there would've been more than a contextless note.
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Like... some things with Layla, mostly, actually.
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At the beginning, probably.
"Steven got into the magical cocktails last night," she says. "Not on purpose - he didn't even realize what was happening, I don't think, until I asked."
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Magical stamina seems, at least, to be tied to physical stamina, much as her own Heba talents are.
"It was the euphoria one. It was actually a little bit funny, at first - or maybe that was just the contact high."
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But given the way this is going, he need to hear more. "Go on."
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One finger scratches idly at a small bubble in the mug's ceramic surface - barely a distraction, but better than nothing.
"Apparently, one of the effects it had was completely knocking out his verbal filter. We were chatting-" and oh, does she regret that little joke about handcuffs now "and he let slip that he's in love with me. I...didn't take it as well as I could have."
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At least the note makes sense, now. And at least it was just an accidental confession not something worse and maybe more out of character. "What happened?"
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"We argued a bit - here, mostly, so there's not that floating around the camp. And talked a bit. We didn't really come to any sort of conclusion, except that avoiding each other isn't going to solve anything, and that we needed to talk to you."
The corners of her mouth crimp slightly. "Or I needed to talk to you, at least."
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He sets down his coffee and uses that hand to scrub his hair back, heaving a sigh. At least it's out in the open. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you," he starts with. "He really didn't want to get into it, and I--" He pauses, covers his eyes with his hand a moment, and finishes. "--I guess I was a little scared, so I didn't push it."
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She pauses a moment, shifting slightly in her seat, so she's facing him more than not. "What were you afraid of?"
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He looks back up at her finally. "But that's a problem I've got, not any reflection on you. You've been great. Especially after everything back home." He sighs again, and adds, "And now this. I know it's gonna be weird."
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"Weird's one word for it," she agrees. "I honestly thought he'd find some lovely, normal girl, and the hardest thing we'd have to deal with is hashing out the logistics and helping him explain that it's not cheating or an open relationship."
And she should not be feeling a sense of relief that it's not that conversation they're having. And yet.
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And Marc hadn't managed to nip it in the bud when it was still in the crush phase, not for lack of trying. Possibly because his people skills are kind of lacking, and he has a hard time denying Steven things these days. Even if that includes loving the same woman.
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She certainly hasn't done much to dissuade Steven from what she'd convinced herself was nothing more than a crush.
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Or maybe not - if she's being honest with herself, her boundaries have been looser with Steven than with most other friends she's had as an adult, compounding the blurred lines they'd begun with.
"No use dwelling on the past, though. We just...need to figure out how we're going to work through this."
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"Me neither," she says, gaze dropping to their interlocked hands before flicking back up to his face. "But you're missing an important part of the equation, habibi."
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She squeezes his hand, as though to underscore that statement, reassurance for herself as much as for him. Overwhelming as this might be, it's not insurmountable. They'll get through this. They just need to figure out how.
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