JewelSerket

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

That blush… It sent Elijah’s heart beating. A blush of his own spread across his cheeks. Shit! He had not meant for his offer to be romantic. Unless that was embarrassment?? Oh gods. He did not want to embarrass this guy–

Blood again. A lot of it. This time, Elijah was more prepared. Maybe it was his protective instincts. Maybe he was more of a caretaker than he realized. Maybe he was just really fucking gay. Whatever it was, Elijah reached into his gym bag and pulled out a spare washcloth. He kept a couple to wipe away sweat and often packed several… usually because he would forget to pack a fresh one every morning.

Elijah brushed off Sorrel’s apologies, more focused on stopping the nosebleed. With surprisingly gentle hands for his size, he slipped his fingers under Sorrel’s chin and lifted it. His face scrunched, as he was very focused. He pressed the rag gently into the path of the blood and held it there until he thought the bleeding stopped or Sorrel took the rag away. ”Here… That should help. There’s no reason to waste a perfectly good shirt and get it all stained. And this will be softer. There’s no reason to be sorry.”

Elijah had not realized how close he had become. How intimate the chin holding was. He was far more focused on making sure Sorrel was okay. ”Does it hurt at all? Is there any other way I can help?”

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Elijah did not entirely disagree. A reset would fix a lot of problems. But there would be no way to reset the world without dooming half of humanity in the process. It was not a risk he was willing to take. What was the point of justice if, in the process, those you’re fighting for are harmed?

”Yeah. Well… hey, it’s a nice thought at least. Thank you for uhm… walking with me. It was nice.”

It was. This strange little man was absolutely fascinating. He stopped outside of Taco Bell and looked his companion up and down. Maybe… would it be weird to offer to hang out later? As bros of course. Nothing weird. No pressure. Of course.

”Do uh,.. Do you want my number? I’d gladly take you up on that offer for a meal later.”

Okay. Okay, that was a totally fine and normal way to approach that question. Everything is fine. Elijah hoped that the bugs were not triggered by his sudden jolt of anxiety. They often got more squirmy when he was anxious. He just had to hope there were not too many of them on him.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Elijah chuckled. ”Noble’s a bit of a stretch. It gives me something to do with myself. Something useful.”

He watched Sorrel’s mind working with a small smile. The man was adorable when he was thinking. Like a little sphynx cat plotting its evil little sphynx cat tricks– …That’s probably a weird thought to think of a total stranger. Someone he’s literally never met before. That is absolutely a weird thought to be thinking of a total stranger–

Elijah’s smile fell a little when the DNCC was mentioned. They were, admittedly, not the best organization around, but they paid Elijah more than enough to get by. Something he was not exactly used to before he worked with them. That didn’t take away the little shot of guilt, though. The offer of volunteers sounded promising, but he highly doubted its effectiveness. Before he could stop himself, he was speaking. ”I think it’d work at first… But people in positions of power tend to corrupt eventually. Besides, you’d need enough people to volunteer for dangerous lines of work. Trust me, that’s hard enough as it is. Especially with heroes running around.” He paused, then shook his head. ”Maybe there’s a way it could work out alright. But you’d still need to pay people something. Or they won’t work with you.”

Elijah really hoped that did not come off as rude. It was not his intention. He liked that idyllic reality, he just did not believe in it. Hell, he would not be working with the DNCC if it were not for the fact that they paid him, and paid him well. To be fair, though, there were plenty of heroes who did it for the fame. It was admittedly nice to be hailed as a protector.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

”Eh.. Taco Bell is alright. Not my favorite, of course. But it’s alright…”

In reality, it was just the first place he thought to go. Not that he’d complain about eating Taco Bell but… well, he could say goodbye to the calories he had allotted for dinner. And his gut. Man, he needed to get better at thinking on the fly.

The silence was painful. He berated himself for saying that Sorrel could walk with him. That was supremely stupid in every regard. When Sorrel broke the silence, though, his shoulders visibly relaxed. Oh! Firefighting. He knew about firefighting. Of course he knew about fire fighting. Oh… wow. This guy is really intelligent! It’s kind of impressive…

Elijah could not help but slow down and stare. His cheeks flushed a light sort of pink and he smiled that smile again. The one his coworker insisted looked scary. He could not help himself. Sorrel’s words fascinated him. Hell, it made him a little more grateful for the kind of work he did at the station.

”I’m uh… I’m actually a volunteer. I do…” FUCK! Idiot! You put yourself into a corner!! ”Freelancing work to pay rent.” It wasn’t entirely a lie. ”That’s pretty cool actually. I never uh… Never really thought of firefighting outside’a the states.”

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

“Heh… Well, I definitely wouldn’t mind company. Sorry to say that you were right about needing a shower, though. I got busy after my morning workout and I probably stink.”

Now more aware of the bugs that crawled on him, Elijah used scratching his head as a way to stop a weevil from poking its absurdly long nose out. At least the stranger– Er, uh. Sorrel. Was humble. Sort of? This humble-ness was of stark contrast with the fight earlier. ”I was just going to hit up Taco Bell. They have food that I can almost pretend is healthy enough to be worth eating.” He laughed after that, more out of nerves than humor.

Assuming Sorrel did nothing to stop him, he started off down the road. “Normally, I’d try to eat a little healthier, but I’ve gotta go down to the station for work later– Oh. Uh. The firestation. I’m a firefighter. Should… should probably clarify that. I’m not a cop or something.”

No, Elijah. That is not a normal fucking thing to say. This guy probably wasn’t interested in that sort of thing. And this guy probably isn’t afraid that he’s a cop. Just cause someone talks about villains doesn’t mean they instantly are one. And you shouldn’t be interacting if he is.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Well, at least whatever this stranger had was not contagious. Elijah still felt bad leaving this man by himself when he looked like he could just crumple at any moment, but it would be rude to keep insisting. Besides, Elijah had his own things to do. Namely, he needed to eat, then get back to the station. One never knew when there would be a new call. There were idiots with ovens and microwaves all over the city.

The offer for a meal caused Elijah to pause. That was awfully nice of this guy who he had just met and who had just gone on a tirade about villains a second ago. In honesty, he wanted to accept the offer. The last time Elijah had had a home cooked meal was… well, to be honest, he did not know. Everything he ate was shitty instant meals, restaurant food, or whatever people brought in at the station. It felt all too strange to accept something so nice right away, though. Maybe later– Was it weird to think about a later with this stranger? Probably.

”Heh… thanks for offering to cook, but I don’t really have time to go anywhere. That’s a big reason why I want to avoid that line. I might go find a fast food place, though. If you’d really like, you’re welcome to join me. I’m not the greatest conversationalist, though.”

Elijah chuckled awkwardly. Man… that was probably weird. This guy was probably just trying to be polite. He should really stop and skitter on out of here. The guy already told him to take a shower. He probably did not actually want to be around Elijah if he was stinky and had bugs on him.

”I’m Elijah, by the way. Nice to uh… meet you?”

Fuck. That was not in fact stopping and skittering out of here.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Elijah flinched slightly when Li snatched the bag. Well. Damn. He was just trying to help. Another sigh escaped him. Maybe asking for that whole interview thing had been a terrible idea. If that’s how this guy behaved then… at least the interview would be interesting. What a dick. Not that everything he said was entirely wrong, nor was it entirely unprovoked. But still…

Elijah rubbed his face and looked down at the twiggy stranger– Shit! Right! His order! He looked back and frowned when he realized several people had taken his spot. Damn it. He should not have tried to be nice. He really did not want to go stand in line again for his protein bowl. People were already loud and annoying there.

“It’s fine… I think I can do without the line.”

For a moment, Elijah awkwardly stared at the skinny fellow. He was thin… worryingly so. Not to mention the heat he had felt earlier. A fever maybe? Though this guy definitely needed to watch where he was going. A frown tightened on his lips when he spotted the blood. “Uhm… I hate to be invasive but… are you okay?”

Elijah gestured vaguely to the blood “You look kind of rough. And you were pretty warm. I don’t want to invade on whatever’s going on but, y’know, it feels kinda wrong to just let you walk away without checking.”

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Blood? That was concerning. Concerning enough that he almost did not catch what the two men were saying. Elijah did a rather poor job of hiding his stare at the blood. That’s fine. Probably. Neither seemed to be paying much attention to—

Man. You’d think that, by being so big, people would see you and not run into you. Evidently, that wasn’t the case. But shit, he had definitely forgotten to shower after his workout— oh. Right. Bugs. He sighed through his nose. Elijah had gotten so used to them that he often forgot others found them gross.

Elijah stepped backwards to allow both men to step out but he was still concerned. He snatched up the bag on the ground. ”Hey! Wait!”

With a grunt, Elijah chased the men outside. His face set into a frown. Why he chased them, he was not certain. He told himself it was to get the food back to Li.

𓆣 ☢ Middle Man ☢ 𓆣

Elijah shifted under Lilian’s gaze. Lilian was not the first to notice his scars. He had seen people’s discomfort a thousand times at least. That did not make their staring any less awkward or off putting. Plus there was something else buried underneath… but just what it was, he was uncertain. Certainly, it was related to nerves. He helped pull Li to his feet– Then nearly jumped out of his shoes when a second, much thinner man approached.

Villain interviews? The thought was almost laughable. He had met plenty of villains and, well, Li put it in better words than he ever could. No villain was going to sit down for an interview. Even fewer villains were going to ever approach a reporter with anything other than malicious intent. Besides, most of them were only interested in news coverage for the purpose of attention. There were plenty of ways to get attention without being a sitting duck for the DNCC.

Seeing the two men get heated was, at the very least, amusing. It was like watching two kittens fighting… though, maybe his perspective was a bit flawed. He was far larger than these men in just about every sense of the word. He interjected his own thoughts into the mix, doing his best to not appear rude. Though, that was difficult, given his experience with villains left an absolutely foul taste in his mouth.

”I haven’t. It’s a bit difficult, I can imagine, when villains never sit still. They’re slippery bastards. Besides, that’s probably why King Stag can’t catch that… god, what’s his name? Gamma-something? Yeah. Him. He’s too slippery for that big fuckin dude. The DNCC should probably hire better heroes for that job.

𖤐 Hell's Renegades 𖤐

It was almost impossible for the Doctor to curb her instinct to stomp on Sabriel’s fingers. If she had not managed to tug her blanket away from Sabriel, Dr. Gate was unsure she would have been able to stop herself. There were far too many people in the room and the noise was giving the drowsy woman a headache already. Briefly, she considered turning herself back into solitary confinement. Then she shook that thought off.

The Doctor wished there were snacks. That she could grab something and go back to her room. As it stood, she was stuck at the back of the room watching her allies act like fools. She leaned heavily on the wall and watched Sabriel and Rubber fight.

Heh. Magnum. That was almost funny. Dr. Gate thought to herself. She gathered her blanket and let her gaze trail across the room. It fell on Ana briefly but interrupting her prayer would only mean angering the poor girl. One of the few people in the room who actually knew how to be quiet. Her gaze trained over to Lauden instead.

Approaching him was as good of a reason as any to get back towards the bedroom halls. Not that she intended to go back towards the bedrooms. The Doctor was far too nosy to leave this room when there was so much happening. Besides, Lauden was not yelling like an idiot. “Good morning.” She grumbled.