Love Sucks [cw]

She chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything crazy”, she reassured him when she could hear the weariness in his voice, she wanted to ease him into it, and maybe one day she would be able to tell him what she truly was.
She moved so she was lying on her side rather than with her elbow pressed against the mattress to keep her slightly elevated over him, “okay, so I have the power to manipulate water”, she explained. Her fingers danced over his skin, picking up every drop of sweat on its way. When she felt like she had enough, she lifted them. An orb of water started floating in front of him, she twisted her fingers, and the globe parted into two, floating around slowly moving before she clenched her fist, and the spheres became steam, and before long, it disappeared. “I can do much more than that; let's just say I’m entertaining to have a shower with or when I’m diving in the Serpent lake, which reminds me that I still owe you a trip”, she hummed, letting her nose pressed against his cheek and her eyes closed, her entire body was starting to feel the effects of the day and week, tired and satisfied. Something she hadn’t felt for a very long time.

“Someday, I like the sound of that” she hummed with a soft voice, feeling how her eyelids started to grow heavy, even though her mind was still very much awake. “mmhm, or tomorrow maybe?” she asked, finally opening her eyes and looked at him when he kissed her chin “it has” she lifted her hand and placed it against his cheek, letting her thumb glide over his cheekbone “I hope one day you feel safe enough to share that darkness of yours” she deliberately didn’t say with her, she would never expect that of anyone, but she herself was searching for it—finding that someone where she could finally let go and explain everything. She would lie if she didn’t feel that one day it could be him, but there was also something in her that tried to remind her that there might never come a day where she would ever feel safe again. Mammon had made sure to take that away from her, carve it out of her soul, remembering over and over, that no matter how far she ran, or where she went—he would one day find her. His little Rồng.

She gave him a small smile; maybe it was even sad in a way; she couldn’t be sure with the rage of emotions storming through her, where she wasn’t really sure what was up or down anymore. One day she would figure things out, but not tonight. As he closed her eyes, so did she, and for a moment, she was sure she could fall asleep like this—naked, not even under the covers, just his hand on her hip to keep her warm, and at that moment, it had seemed enough—at least until a miserable dog started making his presences known.
Kennedy sat up, letting her hands glide over her face and then nodded “yeah, of course, he can” her voice was already heavy from the sleep that had washed over her. She got up from the bed, moving under the covers.  
“Sleep well, Roman”, she whispered as her head found a pillow, and once again, her eyes shut close, letting darkness fold around her and pull her into the land of dreams.

At first, it was a dreamless night. Nothing happened, which she hadn’t experienced for such a long time. Then something warm pressed against her cheek; maybe it was her own hand that had moved during the night. Maybe it was Roman or Snow; she wasn’t sure.
But the heat.

Flames were licking away at her home, the entire village was burning as she got out and tried to get the sod off her face, she screamed to see if she could find her brother. He had to be there somewhere? Her father had pushed her into the cellar and told her not to come out, but when the wood had been burning, she had disobeyed him. A set of arms closed around her, pulling her away, and while she screamed and hit against the arms, they didn’t budge. That was the day her luck turned around, and it felt like she had been cursed rather than blessed.

The scene shifted; she was back in the arena, “I’m sorry”, she heard herself whisper as she stood there with the gun pressed against her best friend's forehead. “I’m so sorry”, the friend nodded, giving her a sad smile “it’s okay, just do it”, and she did. Sobbing from the agony as her friend fell to the ground like all the strings had been cut. She fell to her knees, cradling the face—.

Kennedy sat up; sweat pooled down her body as she looked around; she couldn’t remember where she was. Her breath was shallow, and for a moment, she was sure she was back; that was when she noticed Roman lying next to her; with a soft breath, she turned and placed her forehead against his shoulder; it was like an anchor, pulling her back down reassuring her that she was safe.

“Just a bad dream”, she whispered, kissing him gently against the curve of his jaw. “Thanks”, she whispered, mostly because he had put his arm around her, and once again, she fell back to sleep, this time without any bad dreams haunting her.
She woke again, not long after, feeling more rested than she had in weeks. She looked at the sleeping man, and a soft smile formed over her lips. Now, Kennedy wasn’t the greatest of cooks, but she could make a decent breakfast when necessary. She grabbed his shirt, still lying with the rest of the clothes, and put it on—she let Snow out, and after a little search, she found the dog food and made sure that he had something in his bowl as she started figuring out what to make, and by some ‘dumb’ luck, there were ingredients for her to make maybe the only thing she knew how to do well—French toast. The first thing she had tasted after getting out of her prison, and after that, she had chased the perfect way to make it.
After a while, she started humming as she moved around in his kitchen, almost as if she had done it her whole life, finding exactly what she needed the first time she looked around. Sometimes, it wasn’t all that bad being as lucky as she was.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t noticed that he had walked toward the kitchen, nor that he was standing leaned against the wall and looking at her, standing in his kitchen cooking with his t-shirt on. “Morning,” she said, turning and looking at him with a big smile on her lips, “oh yes, coffee—totally forgot that existed for a moment” she laughed and then looked toward the pan where her French toast was sizzling away “French toast, the only thing I know how to make—so, don’t let it fool you, I’m absolutely rubbish in a kitchen” she giggled, mainly because it wasn’t true, she just never really bothered with making food when she could order it to go, much faster and she didn’t really use much time eaten when it came down to it, which her physique was starting to show.
“Sleep all right, despite me waking you?” she asked, as her eyes intently watched the toast, so she could be sure that it wouldn’t end up burning while she watched away. Which it wouldn’t while she was making it, but she still wanted to make this as perfect as she could.

She put down the spatula as she felt he came closer to her; her smile widened the smaller the distance between them became, and it was a full-on grin when he placed a quick kiss against her cheek before moving away. She chuckled; no, it was more a giggle, that type of laugh that came when you were over the moon and tried to downscale it. Mostly because she kept reminding herself that he wasn’t looking for something steady, and they had agreed they would be friends; this wasn’t going to complicate that. She hoped. At least she wasn’t about to turn tail and leave him just because he figured he might want to explore a steady relationship, even if it wasn’t with her.
“Mmhm, I’ve found out that guys like it just as much as girls, even though I haven’t really had a girl make me breakfast after I’ve been with one” she pressed her brows together “man, girls really do want all the good things for themselves, huh?” she laughed, then she nodded when he asked if she had slept all right “yeah, despite my little nightmare, I haven’t slept this good, in a very long time” it was honest, far too honest than she would typically go, but well—there was no hiding how well-rested she felt.

Kennedy shrugged a little, finding some plates and putting a French toast on each before starting to make the next batch. “It happens, not very often, it's not like I drag someone home every night, but I’ve never limited myself in what I find attractive. Besides, the Serpents are rather open with their sexuality, so it helps, you know? Not being judged by what your sexual preferences are” she didn’t think about the fact that it might be a sore subject; to her, she hadn’t really known anything else after she had gotten out of the arena, which made it very easy for her to talk to—especially when you haven’t been around ignorant people that only meant that in a relationship a man and a woman should be together, and not in any other way than that. Then you had Yadira, a fallen angel that still had the highest regard for God and never did anything but take in people that their parents had abused because they might be homosexual or transgender.  
He was right, however, about that people functioned better when they got enough sleep. She couldn’t relate, as she had never really slept and felt completely rested after she had been grabbed and taken from her home. That was almost twenty years ago.
“There we are” she finally put the last pieces of toast on the plates and took them turning with them, and gave him a triumphant smile “French toast ala Kennedy” she hummed; “where do you want to eat?” she then asked, and would follow him to where he felt like sitting.

She nodded, bouncing after him as he walked toward the couch, just to realise she had forgotten her own cup of coffee and walked back after it. She sat down just as he told her that it was good. A big smile formed over her lips, and she nodded; “thank you”, she said with a smile; “that would be really nice—if it’s no bother?” she wondered, then giving him a big smile as he agreed and took a bite, it really was good—maybe the best she had ever made. “I was raised in a village in China, we mostly lived on the land produce and what we could hunt, so a lot of rice and rabbits” she decided to share a little of herself, not that it was much, but it was a little. “When I came here around five years ago, a woman called Yadira, she’s the one that owns the youth centre, she made it for me; I’ve never come close to her homemade food, but she reminds me off home—in a way” she chuckled, curling her toes before lifting her legs and put them under her.  

She swallowed, her eyes looking at him intently while he opened up and shared something that clearly was hard for him, so she wanted to show that she cared—that she was happy he wanted to share something of himself that wasn’t just his body.
“It isn’t that uncommon”, she whispered, giving him a sad smile “sometimes our bodies are quite amazing in that way, that it will take a trauma that it knows we can handle and store it away; I’m sorry that it has happened to you” she decided to take his hand, giving it a slight squeeze “I also understand why you don’t want to explore those six months, but just by the time I’ve spent with you, I know you’re strong enough to go through anything, and if you ever want to, I would happily be there for you,” she said, not that he had too. Still, she wanted at least to give him the opportunity for the day when he decided that maybe it was time to figure out where he had been those six months. One thing was sure; she just wanted him to be walked through this new life as gently as he could.
She then nodded “yeah, The Serpents are protecting the Youth Centre, a lot of us started out there, even though she isn’t happy that most of us are known gangs, but at least we help with making sure that other kids have a safe place to stay” she chuckled, how many times she, Ivan or Evie had been yelled at because she wanted them to make better choices, especially when they were all so bright. But the Serpents were their home, their family—nothing would ever change that.

She shrugged. “I try to believe that what I’ve been through was because I was strong enough, or else I wouldn’t be here still” there had been plenty of times where she had put a gun to her head, squeezed the tricker, but because her luck would never let her die, it had never worked. Throw herself off a cliff, and there would be something to save her from the fall. It was a never-ending story of her being too lucky to end her life. So, she had to think differently, and that had been the moment she had lived every day as if it was the last; she had either said her mind or kept quiet and never second-guessed it. It hadn’t been until recently that she had started to do that again, and it annoyed her because everything had gone so well for her.
“I thought that was why you got Snow”, she chuckled, wiggling her brows. She pushed back the last piece of toast and then leaned down to give the begging husky a cuddle. Even though her hands were sniffed first, hoping that there might be something for him there.
“I really hope that you will see just how strong a bond there is in being a Serpent,” she said with a smile, even though her eyes kept on the task at hand, which was giving Snow as much love she could before they needed to go.

She looked up when he asked if she would prefer not to be called human she shrugged “like I said last night, define human—there are, of course, some supernaturals out there that are more like animals than humans, but the way we describe human nature, I would say I’m very much human, even though I genes that would defy what most humans would ever be able to do” she shrugged, not really minding whether he called her human or not. Her tongue ran over her lips “then you find people that can handle you at your worst, and then they’ll stick around no matter what” she said, turning toward him, taking the plate that was in his hand and placed on the coffee table. With a swift and fast movement, she placed herself on his lap, her hands gently taking his head between them. “At least you have me; I don’t scare away easily”, she hummed before placing a soft kiss against his lips.

Kennedy leaned back as she laughed. Her hands glided from his jaw into his hair and pulled at it gently, leaning closer, just enough for her lips to grace his. “I would never run away from you”, she whispered; it was an easy promise to make, “absolutely nothing you could do would ever make me scared of you.” her eyes made sure to look into his the entire time she spoke the words. Maybe it was a big promise for people to make because the time changed everything, and sometimes you couldn’t keep the promises you had made. But she couldn’t possibly see a future where he would have done or said something that would make her walk away from him.
With a small sigh, she lifted her eyes, letting them follow her fingers that gently put some of his bed hair back into place—letting her nails scrape down the side of his head, following the curve of his ear. Then she kissed him again, this time for far longer and more passionate than the first time.