open + overflow post

[shipping]

OPEN POST

AZIRAPHALE

BUCK

ERIK

HUA CHENG

STEVE

WANGJI

Comments

[redchaos]

I don't think it will be that easy for either of us.

[If they're trying this family thing, they'll worry.]

[incogneto]

Nothing's ever easy with me. I assume it's the same with you.

Why fate hates us so, I have never discovered.

[redchaos]

Some people just have bad luck.

[Wanda doubts they can cancel it out around one another, but she at least is stronger, now.]

[incogneto]

Maybe. But it's turning up, isn't it?

[ A pause. ]

I'll set up a room for you.

[redchaos]

[So far, so good. But nothing good tends to last.

Still, Wanda gives him a nod and a small smile.]

Thank you, Erik. I'm grateful for your kindness.

[incogneto]

No need. Make yourself at home.

[ I forgot if he fixed her up a plate or not but he will if not, and then go to set up a room. She really can stay as long as she wants. ]

[redchaos]

[Home is a strange concept. Once she has a room that's hers, she's not really sure what to do with it. For now. It's easier to wander over to Erik for lack of anything better to do.]

Do you need help with anything?

[incogneto]

A shopping list might be nice.

[ He doesn't know what else he's missing from this room to make it more Wanda's. ]

[redchaos]

What for?

[She asks with a small smile, knowing why. But she doesn't need anything.]

[incogneto]

I want you to feel at home.

[redchaos]

I will. I don't think you'll allow otherwise.

[incogneto]

I won't. As long as you choose to stay, this is home.

[redchaos]

What's your idea of home, then?

[She's curious. He had one once. A family.]

[incogneto]

Home is a feeling, Schatz. I don't think we can achieve it, but we can fill the apartment with things that will make it a little better.

[redchaos]

[Some clutter and books and art on the walls might be nice, she thinks, but she lifts a brow at him instead of voicing the thought.]

Schatz?

[incogneto]

Treasure. You don't like it?

[redchaos]

[It takes her a moment. She doesn't dislike it. It's just another sweet gesture on his part that gets right under her ribs despite a half-hearted thought to keep a wall up.]

I do like it. I didn't expect a pet name so soon from you.

[But there's an audible smile in her voice. It's not a complaint.]

[incogneto]

I don't look like the type?

[ He smiles. It's true, people think of him as severe. ]

What about Billy and Tommy's father? Will you tell me about him?

[redchaos]

[Her smile fades at the question.]

It's complicated.

[But she's not unwilling.]

He was a... synthezoid. He wasn't human, but he loved humanity.

[incogneto]

[ He nods. ]

What do you mean he loved humanity?

[redchaos]

He died trying to save half the universe. So... he loved beyond humanity, I suppose.

[For now, she's decided to leave out the part of how he first died.]

He would have found you fascinating.

[incogneto]

[ He doesn't even know what to say to that first thing. He's grateful, he supposes. ]

I guess the feeling would have been mutual.

Did you... build him?

[redchaos]

[Surprisingly, the question makes her laugh. Maybe it's the hesitation.]

No.

[Not initially, anyway.]

It's... very complicated. But we were teammates, then friends. We were both the outsiders. The strange ones.

[incogneto]

Even amongst your team?

[ He kind of knows what that's like, but he guesses that on their team the whole point was that they're all outcasts and weirdos. ]

[redchaos]

[Wanda nods. Some of them tried more than others to make her feel less alone, but at the end of the day, that's what she was.]

What about your wife? Was she... a normal human?