Re: I'll Be Okay - Andrew, Ceara ((complete))

by **Ceara** Wed Oct 24, 2012 11:52 pm

"Not a problem here. Considering I usually sleep in trees or on window ledges, I don't really sprawl or move much. I just know that actually having blankets will be nice."

Face still buried deep in her pillow, Ceara frowned at his words. He didn’t have a place? She had assumed… Well actually, he never brought up living anywhere before, but she thought he would’ve had at least some sort of regular roof over his head. Was that why he had sex with people, to sleep in a bed for a night? His arm fell over her and she sighed, curling her knees up closer to her chest to give him as much room as possible, so he could be comfortable. She’d have to talk to him about that later, she decided as her eyes slipped shut.

Through the murkiness of sleep, Ceara heard a faint clatter of dishes. It took her a while to come to, and when she did, she was momentarily confused as to why there was an arm draped over her. But then the previous night’s experience came back to her, and she twisted around a little to look over her shoulder at her cousin. That’s much better. He looked so much more relaxed, happier when he was sleeping.

Another clatter, and the girl turned around too look at the door. She sighed and slowly extracted herself from under his arm, being careful to not wake him. Ceara tucked his arm closer to him and pulled the blanket up before quietly moving to the door. The first thing she saw when she opened the door was her roommate placing the dishes from last night back in the cabinet.

“Hey. You just get in?”

The older woman turned around. “Morning. And yeah.” She took a good look at Ceara’s face as the girl came closer and sat at the table. “You okay?”

“Hm? Oh, yeah…” She stared down at the table, tracing the patterns of the wood grain with her fingertips. “I’m sorry. It’s just that last night-“

“It’s fine, you don’t have to explain. Is that Andrew?” Talia nodded to the bedroom door. At Ceara’s nod, she sighed and reached over, squeezing the smaller girl’s shoulder. “Aight. I’m going to head to bed, leave you two to sort out your shit, but if you need me, I’m here, mkay?” Ceara watched her friend walk away, and when the door to her room clicked shut, she sighed and rested her chin in her palm, staring off into space.

by **Andrew** Thu Oct 25, 2012 3:16 pm

Andrew woke a little while later, confused as to where he was. Lifting his head, he couldn't help frowning as he looked around the room. He was pushing up onto his elbows, planning to sit up, but the dull ache at the base of his spine that he hadn't really noticed suddenly flared up. Oh fuck! He dropped back down, moving one hand to touch his back. Whoever he had been with had been pretty damned rough and had smacked him around too, if the other mild pains he could feel were any indication. Hell, the back of his head was probably the worst off, other than his ass.

He blinked a few times as the events of last night filtered in again. Oh, that was right, he was at Ceara's. And she had gotten up before him? Wow, he must have been a bit more fucked up than he thought if he hadn't even noticed her getting up. Moving gingerly, he got out of bed and tugged on that hoodie again before making his way out to the kitchen, looking for his cousin. He really hoped that she had just been letting him sleep more instead of just having to get away from him.

by **Ceara** Fri Oct 26, 2012 11:08 am

Ceara went through the motions of brushing her teeth and washing her face while her mind drifted away. Did Andrew really not have a place to stay? If he did, then he would have been homeless since he was kicked out... The winters in the Substratum were brutal, how did he...? And then she remembered his 'job'. She frowned and shut off the water, drying off her face before moving back to the living room, settling herself on the couch and picking up an book on a side table.

She would offer Andrew a place to stay, if her place was just a bit bigger, because the apartment was barely comfortable for the two people living there already. And Ceara doubted that he would accept even if she offered. She huffed, thumbing through the pages of the book, hoping the story would distract her from her thoughts. And it worked, her mind focused in on the words on the page, so when she heard a door close a while later she jolted. She stood up and closed the book with a snap, turning to her cousin. "Hey, Andrew. How're you feeling?" Probably not the best way to phrase that question. Ceara walked closer to him, a crease forming between the brows when she noticed the mottled purple of bruises over his neck and face that must've appeared overnight. That bastard was going to pay, she thought as she reached up and brushed her fingers lightly over a bruise on his cheekbone.

by **Andrew** Fri Oct 26, 2012 12:37 pm

He laughed softly when he saw Ceara jump, almost throwing the book she was reading across the room in her startlement. "I'm fine," he answered, smiling. He was actually a bit hungry but he didn't want to impose on her any further. And actually, he should probably expand on that, before she gave him that exasperated and disbelieving look that he was getting used to seeing from her.

"I mean, I'm calm, I'm not dwelling on it. I could be more cheerful, yeah, but I'm better than I was yesterday. And..." He trailed off when he saw how she was focused on his neck. What was she looking at? Oh, that guy had grabbed the back of his neck pretty damn hard and considering how big he had been it wasn't much of a surprise that there were bruises almost completely around Andrew's neck.

He winced when she touched his cheek, jerking his head away. Shit, that had hurt. More than a bruise should have. The redhead frowned softly, thinking on what could have caused that much more pain than he should have been feeling. Ah, that would do it - that was the side of his face that had been slammed against the wall a couple of times. His cheek bone probably had a hairline fracture. Which would also explain why Ceara's slap had hurt so much. And if she was so upset over the few bruises she could see... Well, he was glad that he had decided to put on the hoodie again considering how darkly his hips had already bruised - and they were probably going to get darker.

Andrew gently caught her hand. "And I'm okay. Yeah, I'm bruised and sore, but I've been a lot worse off before."

by **Ceara** Fri Oct 26, 2012 10:16 pm

"And I'm okay. Yeah, I'm bruised and sore, but I've been a lot worse off before."

The look on his face when she touched his cheek didn’t escape her. That was weird, she had been careful to be gentle, but apparently the brush of her fingers hurt much more than expected. It was just a bruise, it couldn’t hurt that much… unless he had a fracture or something. Ceara grimaced, pulling her hand out of his grasp to stare at his face. “If… If you’re sure.”

As much as she wanted to do something, there wasn’t anything she could do, if all he had were bruises (and a fractured cheekbone, but she couldn’t do anything about that either). What she did do to try and help alleviate some of his pain was hand him a bottle of aspirin and pour him a glass of water. She knew from experience that the day after a beating was pretty horrible, your body protesting every movement you made. “You’re supposed to take that after you eat, but unless you want to eat dry cereal or something, I really don’t have food right now… sorry…” Ceara sighed, shoving her hands in the pockets of her sweatpants, again feeling ashamed for not being able to take care of him adequately.

by **Andrew** Sat Oct 27, 2012 1:16 pm

He laughed softly. "Yeah, I'm sure. Remember how I looked when we found out about our relation?" Yeah, like she'd forget accidentally shoving him off the roof of a five or six story building. "I was almost beaten to death. I'm still not sure why they didn't kill me..." He shrugged, brushing it off. "I figure they either got bored or some random person saved me after I blacked out and took me somewhere safe to recover for a bit."

Andrew thanked her softly when she passed him some aspirin and water. That would help. And since he didn't like taking anything stronger, it was perfect. He shrugged at what she said, swallowing the pills and downing half the glass. "It's fine. I might have a protein bar somewhere in my bag." He shrugged again, tossing an arm around her shoulders and grinning down at her.

"Hey, thanks. For... for everything, really. For helping me last night. And putting up with me. And smacking some sense into me." He squeezed her shoulders and dropped a kiss on top of her head. "It means a lot to me." Especially since no one else ever really bothered.

by **Ceara** Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:16 am

"Hey, thanks. For... for everything, really. For helping me last night. And putting up with me. And smacking some sense into me. It means a lot to me."

She grinned. “You don’t need to thank me for anything really; you’re my cousin and a friend, I couldn’t just leave you like that. And do you think I would ever miss an opportunity to smack some sense into you? Ever?” Ceara laughed a little before sobering up. “But really, I… I was serious when I said I’m here for you. You won’t be able to get rid of me.” The words came out softly, almost hesitant, because it was rare for her to just do something like this. She didn’t just offer herself to be another person’s support; when she committed herself to a person she really did do everything she could to protect that person. Did she really want to have that sort of emotional connection with another person?

She sighed. Yes, yes she did. Even if Ceara didn’t want to, Andrew was still family, and she couldn’t let herself be like the other bastards in their family. “If you ever need someone to talk to or a place to stay, it’s not a problem at all. Just… okay?”

by **Andrew** Sun Oct 28, 2012 4:23 pm

Andrew gave her a bright smile when she called him a friend. He couldn't say that he didn't occasionally think that she only put up with him because they were family so it was great to hear that he was wrong on that count.

Once she had finished talking, he used the arm around Ceara to tug her against his chest and hug her tightly, her back to his chest. "Now that you've admitted to that, you're not getting rid of me either. I'm like a fungus. At first it'll be small things then one day you'll realize that I've spread all over," he said, dropping his head to her shoulder. He laughed softly, leaning against her and letting himself go limp, hanging from her shoulders. Until she shoved him off and let him drop to the floor that is.

Blinking up at her from where he was sprawled, he let out a surprised laugh before darting out one hand and catching hold of her ankle to pull her down with him. Then he tried to scramble away before she could recover.

by **Ceara** Mon Oct 29, 2012 12:57 am

“That is… a very disturbing ima - oof!” Ceara grunted when her cousin tugged her to his chest and squeezed hard, before essentially dropping the entire weight of his body onto her. Andrew wasn’t a terribly large person, but his cousin was definitely quite small, so when a hundred and fifty something pounds of dead weight fell on her shoulders she stumbled and nearly fell over. “Andrew… Andrew what are you doing. No, Andrew, get off.” She managed to lift one of his arms and slid under it, letting her cousin drop to the floor.

Ceara was about to turn around and laugh at him, but a hand around her ankle stopped her and she could only let out a startled ‘meep’ as she fell backwards. She blinked at Andrew for a few seconds, before grinning largely and lunging at him. She missed, landing face-first on the hard-wood floor. The girl simply lay there for a few moments, a little bit stunned, before a chuckle broke out of her. She rolled over, the chuckle turned into full-blown laughter before she remembered her roommate in the adajacent and pushed herself up, clapping a hand to stifle the laughter. “That was mean,” she said after calming down enough to form a sentence.

by **Andrew** Mon Oct 29, 2012 1:14 pm

Andrew winced she missed her lunge and bounced off the floor again. He really hoped she hadn't just hit her nose because that would suck and he would feel really bad if she had. He had just knelt next to her when she rolled over and started to laugh.

His lips twitched and he started laughing as well, trying not to be too loud since she was muffling her own amusement. God, they were so ridiculous and acted like children most of the time. But that was a good thing considering she was serious entirely too often and needed the laughter while he was just happy to be able to share stuff like this with someone. And it pushed away those thoughts that got him hit by his tiny spitfire of a cousin (and wouldn't that get him hit? He should call her that sometime).

The redhead snaked an arm around her waist, tugging her against his side. At least they weren't in public so he didn't need to worry about the absurd picture they made - not that he cared any other time.

by **Ceara** Mon Oct 29, 2012 5:40 pm

Ceara leaned back against her cousin, shoulders still shaking in the effort to contain her laughter. Her head dropped back to rest on his shoulder. This was how they were supposed to be. As stupid and childish as they were acting, it was definitely preferable to the atmosphere last night. Andrew might get on her nerves sometimes (well, most of the time) with all the talking and the cheerfulness, but that was just how he was; if he acted any differently, it didn’t fit him at all.

She sighed before straightening back up, smacking him on the shoulder and standing up. “Come on, put on some real clothes and we can go get some food. I’m hungry.” She hadn’t had that much to eat last night, and neither did he, for that matter. Ceara shooed her cousin off to the bathroom before heading back to her room to pull on some proper clothes. She intended to stay with her cousin for the rest of the day, he couldn’t be left alone so soon after last night. She frowned as she tugged off her shirt and pulled on a clean one. That man... She had little to no chances of finding him actively, she knew that; the man was nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary... But she would never forget his face, so he better pray she didn't see him again. Ever. Because even Ceara herself didn't know what she would do to him.

When they both finished getting ready, she pushed Andrew towards the door, forcing a grin on her face. “Let’s goooo.”

by **Andrew** Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:29 pm

He grinned, leaning his head on hers for a moment before they stood, one hand going up to absently rub his shoulder. That had been the same one Hoss had stabbed and was still a little tender, not that he'd tell her that. He laughed softly when she pushed him toward the bathroom, shaking his head and veering for his bag. It wasn't like he had a different pair of pants to wear so all he had to do was pull on his only spare shirt. But he made sure to wait until Ceara had closed the door to her room before he tugged off the hoodie and replaced it with his shirt and the sweat jacket he usually had tied around his waist. He was just finishing tying his shoes when Ceara came back out, standing and putting his bag on.

“Let’s goooo.”

"Alright, alright. I'm coming. Don't yank off my arm," Andrew said, laughing brightly. If she wanted to spend the day with him, he sure wasn't going to complain. Hopefully she wouldn't get too angry with him since he knew he'd be a little more spastic than normal.

~~~end~~~

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