[ those two words sounds suspiciously like he's scoffing and trying hard not to shake his head. he won't lie and say he's never eaten there (because he has) but there are so many better places to get tacos or burritos or quesadillas in this area than from a place that is so far from authentic that it's laughable. ]
If you want an actual quesadilla, I can tell you which places to go and none of them are Taco Bell. [ nothing was going to be as accurate as when he was in colombia but they did a good job of trying. when something said hot, it was actually going to make your eyes water. ]
And yes, I am a snob about this. [ he sniffs, wiping at his eyes to clear away any lingering tears and giving her the barest hint of a smile. ]
[ listen, her choices were perfectly serviceable when dinner for one very not-picky person was on the menu. she wouldn't have suggested dollar menu tacos for him, anyway. ]
Maybe I just wanted a cheap chalupa, okay. [ but she returns that smile all the same, her thumb tapping gently against the tip of his nose. ] But if you want to pick somewhere for dinner, I think we can make that happen.
[ they'll have to either order something in or actually leave, though, and she's hoping he'll agree that the former is definitely the better of the two options. she really doesn't want to get up if she doesn't have to. ]
[ sometimes things like taco bell were the only things close by when you were hungry after a long night. he might have been a snob but he'd also lived on the streets long enough to appreciate cheap food. ]
I know a place that might be a little easier on your stomach than Taco Bell. [ and he was pretty sure they'd deliver too. only... ]
Can I use your phone? [ he's got his in his pocket but — it's still showing the picture of dawn that he assumes lorna had sent and he just can't bear to do anything else with it right now.
he does pull it out of his back pocket and passes it towards her, eyes averted so he doesn't break down in fresh tears. possibly the last time he'd ever see his kid right there and it was a photograph on his phone.
he hates it but he treasures it at the same time. ]
Yeah. [ she blinks, but then he hands over his phone, and daisy can't help but peek down at the screen. it makes a hell of a lot more sense then. ] Yeah, babe, of course.
[ since daisy patently refuses to carry a purse, her phone is also in her back pocket, currently being squished by her position on the bed. good thing marcos won't complain too much if she sprawls against him to fish it out — you know, since once she does, it winds up in his hands for the taking. ]
You wanna give them a ring while I grab something to drink?
[ which is to say, give her a minute to duck out of the room and leave him to the ordering. she's not gone for very long — just enough time to boot up her laptop and plug his phone in, pulling the message file and the photo included. she won't do it tonight, but later ... well, daisy will trace the photo itself, find the exif data, and track it. she has a feeling it's not from lorna, but if she can find out who sent it, maybe she can keep an eye on dawn in the interim.
he deserves that, at least. somebody to watch over his kid while lorna won't let him do it.
once her tech sleuth detour's completed, daisy does actually grab two bottles of water from the drawer in the fridge — yes, the vegetable drawer, but does she eat vegetables by herself? no — before heading back in. she leaves his phone face-down on the dresser, and comes back to the bed to join him. ]
[ he takes her phone with a grateful nod and doesn't even think twice about letting her have his. there's nothing on there that he wouldn't want her to see even if he doesn't think she'll go snooping. so, he lets her have it while he rolls onto his back and navigates to her browser. he finds the place that he likes, scrolling through and ordering a bunch of stuff that he puts on a credit card that the underground had sage set up before she'd defected. still works so she hasn't shut it down.
probably doesn't even remember. once that's down, he glances over at the door and seeing she wasn't back yet, sent her a few text messages to her self with stupid, silly little declarations of love and appreciation. he has no idea how long it'll take her to see them but he hopes she does when she's off with her team and needs a little pick me up.
that done, he drops her phone on her chest and waits for her to get back. which she does a ew minutes later. ]
[ it's more food than either of them are likely to eat in a single sitting — or in multiple sittings, for that matter. it's excessive, but she can't deny the fact that the generosity will be appreciated when she brings it back to base. probably not quite as much as the people in the underground would appreciate it, though — a realization that hits her a moment or so later. ]
You should too. [ maybe he was already planning on it. he did say 'some'. ] But I'm calling the tacos.
[ the banter comes easy, like sliding back into a worn-in pair of jeans; settling next to him again on the bed is easy, too. her phone is swept aside, dropped to the floor where she'll still be able to hear it ring in the case of a delivery emergency, in favor of resting her head against his chest, her arm draping loosely over his stomach. it's a comfortable, familiar position, and from it, she can hear the thump of his heartbeat echoing in time with her own. ]
I'm glad you came, [ she says after a long interlude of companionable quiet, murmuring the words into the fabric of his shirt. ] I hope you weren't waiting out there too long, though.
[ maybe ten minutes or so. he hadn't really been keeping track after he'd figured out she hadn't been there and slumped down to the floor to wait. he'd absolutely still be there now if she hadn't come home as fast as she had. probably asleep or maybe just crying again. he doesn't know. ]
Pretty glad you don't have neighbors though because I would have bet one would have called the cops on me for looking like I did and not leaving. [ probably would have thought he was some drunk ex boyfriend there to try and hurt her instead of a miserable current boyfriend (even if that's not a word they use often or at all) who just wanted to not be alone. ]
Last thing I needed tonight was Sentinel Services. [ with as angry as he'd been, he knows that he would have resisted, fought, and probably gotten into a lot of trouble. ]
I didn't even think to ask if you were in town. I just had to get out of there. If you weren't here, I probably would have just walked around for awhile.
[ she knows that for a fact because shield owns the building. they have an understanding — or rather, a ranking agreement, after mace went public on the good inhumans were doing to help bring peace to the raging wars between the gifted population and the ... not — with sentinel services. they don't sweep the building, and shield doesn't send agents to raid their servers. win-win. ish. ]
You don't have to ask me, Marcos. [ her head tips up to level him with a soft, serious gaze. ] You can always come here if you need to. You and anybody else.
[ there's nothing in her apartment that would be a risk to anyone he would trust enough to bring here. if he needed the safe haven, him or john or anyone in the underground, daisy would welcome them willingly.
she's quiet for a moment before she speaks up again. ]
[ because all sentinel services did was sweep their building. and if it wasn't them, it was the purifiers. honestly, marcos isn't even sure which group he'd rather. they were both awful in their own ways. one would capture you so you could be experimented on and the other would just kill you.
there was no good option.
he's torn away from his hate on of both groups by her simple, quiet statement. he stares at her like he's waiting for to say she's joking or to take the offer back. she doesn't though and he's stunned into speechlessness for the moment. ]
You don't have to do that. I — I wouldn't want to intrude.
[ did he not see what she was doing before he got there? she was literally carbloading at taco bell and coming home to watch netflix with no pants on. she doesn't actually have a life. ]
You don't need to sit in the hallway or call me ahead of time to make sure you can come in, babe. Just use the key. [ daisy shakes her head, fond, and presses a kiss to his chest. ] You already have my wifi password, so I think it's safe to say we're getting pretty serious.
[ because that's? somehow? more important than the key? don't @ her. ]
Yeah, but what if you're not here? And I don't mean you've just taken a trip to get terrible Mexican food. I meant what if you were in...I don't know, Switzerland or Saudi Arabia or whatever country you're being sent to this week.
I'm not disputing the fact that we're serious — [ because they'd stepped over that line awhile ago, he thinks. gone from something casual to something committed to something serious and now here they were. ]
Wouldn't that be strange? To just know there was someone in your apartment and you were thousands of miles away?
[ he asks, and it's a fair question. what if? but rather than be worrisome or a new consideration, it only makes her laugh, a soft chuckle in her throat as she wrinkles her nose up at him. ]
I'd be happy that any potential home burglars would be getting way more than they bargained for, obviously. [ but they are serious, and she does appreciate his agreement to it. it pulls a warmth in her chest, heart swelling with words they haven't yet said out loud. ]
It wouldn't be strange. I mean, if you start using my apartment as an AirBNB to raise funds for the Underground, I'd be pretty pissed — but if you and John need a place to lay low for a week, I'd sleep better knowing you were okay.
[ he was as hard headed as you were, daisy. did you really expect anything less? ]
It's kind of nice to have a place no one really knows about. [ that doesn't mean they don't know about her because they do. she's been to their apartments, she's sat in on a few of their meetings and she'd been around a lot in the immediate aftermath of lorna's defection.
but he's never told anyone, not even john, where he goes when he goes to see her. ]
John and Clarice try and guess where you live every time I come over. [ not today though considering the circumstances of his arrival. ]
[ 'that hotel'. the swanky one facing out towards the capital lawn, the one with the bougie penthouse room she'd hacked into for a rush one sunday morning when their schedules had miraculously aligned. they'd had exactly four hours in that room — a full sixty minutes of which was spent in a stupidly large shower. ]
Though I'm surprised John hasn't tried to track you here yet. [ because he's nosy. because sometimes marcos can't quite bring himself to say goodbye, even when he needs to, and he stays too long. his phone buzzes and buzzes then. ] You do keep breaking curfew.
[ not that john proudstar really listens especially if he thinks someone might be in trouble. so far, he hasn't gone any further than blowing up his phone and threatening to come find him if he was late one more time. ]
They know enough for now.
[ they knew he was happy and that hadn't been easy to achieve in the aftermath of what happened with lorna. they knew some barebones information of who she worked for but nothing detailed. they knew marcos often retreated there a few times a week if she was in town and stayed for awhile. ]
John's just...protective. [ after lorna and everything. ]
[ a joke, but. also truth. she was protective of him — not that he needed her to fight his battles, but that she wanted to be there right along with him. that when he needed her to be there, whether here to hold him and remind him that everything would be okay or on the front lines with her hands held out like weapons, she wanted to be there. ]
I'll get my spare for you before you go, okay? [ don't leave now, obviously. but... at some point. when they leave the bed, she'll get it, and make sure he takes it with him. ] And then maybe someday you can surprise me somewhere more fun than my doorstep.
[ hopefully the next time he showed up, he wouldn't be crying on her couch instead. he'd be cool with not crying at all, in fact. but all things considered, the only other thing someone could take away from him that was on the level of dawn was her and if that happened — well, he'd be pissed and angry and raging but it would probably be a drop in the hat in comparison to what she'd do. ]
I love you. [ he hasn't said it enough tonight. he ducks his head and presses his lips to the top of her head, sinking into the comfort she was providing. ] If there's anything you need, just ask.
[ it feels nice to say it. and to hear it, for that matter. maybe it's the sunlight that flows through his veins, maybe it's just the warm and cozy conversation — but whatever the reason, it's nice to press her face into the fabric of his shirt, feel the warmth of him all over everywhere they touch. like an electric blanket that could cuddle you back. ]
This is pretty good, honestly. [ she might not have had the worst day ever, but daisy's pretty sure laying here like this would fix it if she had. ] Unless you have something else in mind?
[ only the slightest of eyebrow waggling, and it's all buried against his shirt, anyway. ]
[ even if he can't see the waggling of her eyebrows or any snicker or smirk that might be on her face, he knows it's there and it actually makes him chuckle quietly. ]
There's food on the way. I don't know if there's time for what I know you're thinking about.
[ and what he was thinking about now, thanks daisy. ]
I wouldn't want to ruin dinner twice in one night.
They could just leave it on the doorstep. I'm sure the tacos will be fine.
[ but she's not insisting, not moving to make any demands or push him towards anything in particular. just stating a fact, light and easy, as his arms wrap loosely around her shoulders. ]
You didn't ruin anything. You saved me from dollar menu heartburn, I should be thanking you.
[ okay, maybe now that grin is a little more obvious. ]
[ he reaches out and traces her smile with one finger, one side to another and taps her cheek. even when he maybe wasn't in the mood to smile, he liked seeing hers, at least. ]
I like it.
[ he lets his hand drop away and manages to return her smile with one of his own. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
[ those two words sounds suspiciously like he's scoffing and trying hard not to shake his head. he won't lie and say he's never eaten there (because he has) but there are so many better places to get tacos or burritos or quesadillas in this area than from a place that is so far from authentic that it's laughable. ]
If you want an actual quesadilla, I can tell you which places to go and none of them are Taco Bell. [ nothing was going to be as accurate as when he was in colombia but they did a good job of trying. when something said hot, it was actually going to make your eyes water. ]
And yes, I am a snob about this. [ he sniffs, wiping at his eyes to clear away any lingering tears and giving her the barest hint of a smile. ]
no subject
Maybe I just wanted a cheap chalupa, okay. [ but she returns that smile all the same, her thumb tapping gently against the tip of his nose. ] But if you want to pick somewhere for dinner, I think we can make that happen.
[ they'll have to either order something in or actually leave, though, and she's hoping he'll agree that the former is definitely the better of the two options. she really doesn't want to get up if she doesn't have to. ]
no subject
[ sometimes things like taco bell were the only things close by when you were hungry after a long night. he might have been a snob but he'd also lived on the streets long enough to appreciate cheap food. ]
I know a place that might be a little easier on your stomach than Taco Bell. [ and he was pretty sure they'd deliver too. only... ]
Can I use your phone? [ he's got his in his pocket but — it's still showing the picture of dawn that he assumes lorna had sent and he just can't bear to do anything else with it right now.
he does pull it out of his back pocket and passes it towards her, eyes averted so he doesn't break down in fresh tears. possibly the last time he'd ever see his kid right there and it was a photograph on his phone.
he hates it but he treasures it at the same time. ]
no subject
[ since daisy patently refuses to carry a purse, her phone is also in her back pocket, currently being squished by her position on the bed. good thing marcos won't complain too much if she sprawls against him to fish it out — you know, since once she does, it winds up in his hands for the taking. ]
You wanna give them a ring while I grab something to drink?
[ which is to say, give her a minute to duck out of the room and leave him to the ordering. she's not gone for very long — just enough time to boot up her laptop and plug his phone in, pulling the message file and the photo included. she won't do it tonight, but later ... well, daisy will trace the photo itself, find the exif data, and track it. she has a feeling it's not from lorna, but if she can find out who sent it, maybe she can keep an eye on dawn in the interim.
he deserves that, at least. somebody to watch over his kid while lorna won't let him do it.
once her tech sleuth detour's completed, daisy does actually grab two bottles of water from the drawer in the fridge — yes, the vegetable drawer, but does she eat vegetables by herself? no — before heading back in. she leaves his phone face-down on the dresser, and comes back to the bed to join him. ]
What'd you get me?
no subject
probably doesn't even remember. once that's down, he glances over at the door and seeing she wasn't back yet, sent her a few text messages to her self with stupid, silly little declarations of love and appreciation. he has no idea how long it'll take her to see them but he hopes she does when she's off with her team and needs a little pick me up.
that done, he drops her phone on her chest and waits for her to get back. which she does a ew minutes later. ]
Real tacos. Fajitas. Nachos. Tamales.
[ a lot of food basically. ]
You can take some leftovers to your friends.
no subject
You should too. [ maybe he was already planning on it. he did say 'some'. ] But I'm calling the tacos.
[ the banter comes easy, like sliding back into a worn-in pair of jeans; settling next to him again on the bed is easy, too. her phone is swept aside, dropped to the floor where she'll still be able to hear it ring in the case of a delivery emergency, in favor of resting her head against his chest, her arm draping loosely over his stomach. it's a comfortable, familiar position, and from it, she can hear the thump of his heartbeat echoing in time with her own. ]
I'm glad you came, [ she says after a long interlude of companionable quiet, murmuring the words into the fabric of his shirt. ] I hope you weren't waiting out there too long, though.
no subject
[ maybe ten minutes or so. he hadn't really been keeping track after he'd figured out she hadn't been there and slumped down to the floor to wait. he'd absolutely still be there now if she hadn't come home as fast as she had. probably asleep or maybe just crying again. he doesn't know. ]
Pretty glad you don't have neighbors though because I would have bet one would have called the cops on me for looking like I did and not leaving. [ probably would have thought he was some drunk ex boyfriend there to try and hurt her instead of a miserable current boyfriend (even if that's not a word they use often or at all) who just wanted to not be alone. ]
Last thing I needed tonight was Sentinel Services. [ with as angry as he'd been, he knows that he would have resisted, fought, and probably gotten into a lot of trouble. ]
I didn't even think to ask if you were in town. I just had to get out of there. If you weren't here, I probably would have just walked around for awhile.
no subject
[ she knows that for a fact because shield owns the building. they have an understanding — or rather, a ranking agreement, after mace went public on the good inhumans were doing to help bring peace to the raging wars between the gifted population and the ... not — with sentinel services. they don't sweep the building, and shield doesn't send agents to raid their servers. win-win. ish. ]
You don't have to ask me, Marcos. [ her head tips up to level him with a soft, serious gaze. ] You can always come here if you need to. You and anybody else.
[ there's nothing in her apartment that would be a risk to anyone he would trust enough to bring here. if he needed the safe haven, him or john or anyone in the underground, daisy would welcome them willingly.
she's quiet for a moment before she speaks up again. ]
I'll make you a key. Use it.
no subject
[ because all sentinel services did was sweep their building. and if it wasn't them, it was the purifiers. honestly, marcos isn't even sure which group he'd rather. they were both awful in their own ways. one would capture you so you could be experimented on and the other would just kill you.
there was no good option.
he's torn away from his hate on of both groups by her simple, quiet statement. he stares at her like he's waiting for to say she's joking or to take the offer back. she doesn't though and he's stunned into speechlessness for the moment. ]
You don't have to do that. I — I wouldn't want to intrude.
no subject
[ did he not see what she was doing before he got there? she was literally carbloading at taco bell and coming home to watch netflix with no pants on. she doesn't actually have a life. ]
You don't need to sit in the hallway or call me ahead of time to make sure you can come in, babe. Just use the key. [ daisy shakes her head, fond, and presses a kiss to his chest. ] You already have my wifi password, so I think it's safe to say we're getting pretty serious.
[ because that's? somehow? more important than the key? don't @ her. ]
no subject
I'm not disputing the fact that we're serious — [ because they'd stepped over that line awhile ago, he thinks. gone from something casual to something committed to something serious and now here they were. ]
Wouldn't that be strange? To just know there was someone in your apartment and you were thousands of miles away?
no subject
I'd be happy that any potential home burglars would be getting way more than they bargained for, obviously. [ but they are serious, and she does appreciate his agreement to it. it pulls a warmth in her chest, heart swelling with words they haven't yet said out loud. ]
It wouldn't be strange. I mean, if you start using my apartment as an AirBNB to raise funds for the Underground, I'd be pretty pissed — but if you and John need a place to lay low for a week, I'd sleep better knowing you were okay.
no subject
[ he was as hard headed as you were, daisy. did you really expect anything less? ]
It's kind of nice to have a place no one really knows about. [ that doesn't mean they don't know about her because they do. she's been to their apartments, she's sat in on a few of their meetings and she'd been around a lot in the immediate aftermath of lorna's defection.
but he's never told anyone, not even john, where he goes when he goes to see her. ]
John and Clarice try and guess where you live every time I come over. [ not today though considering the circumstances of his arrival. ]
no subject
[ 'that hotel'. the swanky one facing out towards the capital lawn, the one with the bougie penthouse room she'd hacked into for a rush one sunday morning when their schedules had miraculously aligned. they'd had exactly four hours in that room — a full sixty minutes of which was spent in a stupidly large shower. ]
Though I'm surprised John hasn't tried to track you here yet. [ because he's nosy. because sometimes marcos can't quite bring himself to say goodbye, even when he needs to, and he stays too long. his phone buzzes and buzzes then. ] You do keep breaking curfew.
[ jokes. she can make them. ]
no subject
[ not that john proudstar really listens especially if he thinks someone might be in trouble. so far, he hasn't gone any further than blowing up his phone and threatening to come find him if he was late one more time. ]
They know enough for now.
[ they knew he was happy and that hadn't been easy to achieve in the aftermath of what happened with lorna. they knew some barebones information of who she worked for but nothing detailed. they knew marcos often retreated there a few times a week if she was in town and stayed for awhile. ]
John's just...protective. [ after lorna and everything. ]
no subject
[ a joke, but. also truth. she was protective of him — not that he needed her to fight his battles, but that she wanted to be there right along with him. that when he needed her to be there, whether here to hold him and remind him that everything would be okay or on the front lines with her hands held out like weapons, she wanted to be there. ]
I'll get my spare for you before you go, okay? [ don't leave now, obviously. but... at some point. when they leave the bed, she'll get it, and make sure he takes it with him. ] And then maybe someday you can surprise me somewhere more fun than my doorstep.
no subject
[ hopefully the next time he showed up, he wouldn't be crying on her couch instead. he'd be cool with not crying at all, in fact. but all things considered, the only other thing someone could take away from him that was on the level of dawn was her and if that happened — well, he'd be pissed and angry and raging but it would probably be a drop in the hat in comparison to what she'd do. ]
I love you. [ he hasn't said it enough tonight. he ducks his head and presses his lips to the top of her head, sinking into the comfort she was providing. ] If there's anything you need, just ask.
no subject
[ it feels nice to say it. and to hear it, for that matter. maybe it's the sunlight that flows through his veins, maybe it's just the warm and cozy conversation — but whatever the reason, it's nice to press her face into the fabric of his shirt, feel the warmth of him all over everywhere they touch. like an electric blanket that could cuddle you back. ]
This is pretty good, honestly. [ she might not have had the worst day ever, but daisy's pretty sure laying here like this would fix it if she had. ] Unless you have something else in mind?
[ only the slightest of eyebrow waggling, and it's all buried against his shirt, anyway. ]
no subject
There's food on the way. I don't know if there's time for what I know you're thinking about.
[ and what he was thinking about now, thanks daisy. ]
I wouldn't want to ruin dinner twice in one night.
no subject
[ but she's not insisting, not moving to make any demands or push him towards anything in particular. just stating a fact, light and easy, as his arms wrap loosely around her shoulders. ]
You didn't ruin anything. You saved me from dollar menu heartburn, I should be thanking you.
[ okay, maybe now that grin is a little more obvious. ]
no subject
[ he reaches out and traces her smile with one finger, one side to another and taps her cheek. even when he maybe wasn't in the mood to smile, he liked seeing hers, at least. ]
I like it.
[ he lets his hand drop away and manages to return her smile with one of his own. ]