Backdated [Alison, Haroun] Here is good...

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Backdated. Set Saturday, late evening. Haroun and Alison catch a late night showing of Star Wars, Revenge of the Sith. There is talk in general, references to the past and to what might be and the decision that 'here' is a good place to be.

Haroun opened the door to Alison's apartment, walked into the living room, and slumped into what was fast becoming "his" chair. "What an awful movie." he said with an artful groan. "I think I've heard the kids write better dialog. Still, it was pretty with the special effects..." he said.

"The fight scenes were pretty, and the special effects too," Alison agreed, wandering in after him to brush one hand against his shoulder before deciding to sprawl on the couch. And then some. The last fight scene had been something else, however, and Alison could still feel the tension locked in her shoulders. Which was likely nothing compared to what Haroun must still be feeling, considering the look on his face at the time. "Padme was utterly skewered in that movie. Bleah..."

"Lucas hates Natalie Portman." Haroun agreed. "I'm thirsty. You want anything?" he asked, getting to his feet and wandering into the kitchen. "And she wasn't skewered, she was choked out. There's a difference." he said with a flat attempt at humor.

"Water is fine, unless you're making tea..." His voice was off, he was moving stiffly and everything about him radiated 'something is eating away at me' and then some. It was hardly a problem to guess what it might be. Shifting to sit in the middle of the couch and crossing her legs, Alison decided to wait until he returned to ask, giving him time to settle down. And just talk on his own, if he wanted to.

"They used chop-editing. I hate chop-editing. Especially for fights." he groused. "And I was just going to get a bottle of water, but you know, tea sounds good. Let me put a kettle on." fishing in the cupboard for the kettle. "Is the kettle in the dishwasher, or did we actually put it away this time?" he asked as he searched.

"I think I saw it where it usually is," Alison replied – it wasn't as though they had that much space in which to store things in the kitchenette. And she wasn't quite ready to test her tea making skills just yet. There was still the occasional disaster, which meant more practice. "I can come over to help, if you want..." she suited actions to words, starting to rise to her feet.

"It's your apartment." he pointed out, and then found the teapot he was looking for - buried waaay in the back behind some pots and pans. "Who stored this all the way in the back?" he grumbled as he shifted items out of the way to pull it free. This accomplished, he started to close the cabinet door - and precipitated a loud, noisy spill of cookware all over the floor.

Haroun stared at it for a second and cursed. Loudly. In Arabic. So that people in Morocco could probably hear him.

"I did?" The reply went mostly unheard, both because Haroun hadn't quite stopped and because Alison's voice had been small enough to easily go unheard. Sighing, she walked over to the kitchen and bent down to help him pick up the pots and pans, setting them on the counter rather than trying to stuff everything back into place again. And then, once the bulk of the pots were picked up, she reached out towards him, hand resting on his shoulder briefly before touching his cheek in a silent question.

Haroun had the good grace to look sheepish as he helped Alison pick up the pots and the pans. "Dammit." he said, and then began the preparations for actually making tea. He exhaled loudly when she touched him, and then tried to force himself to relax. "I should not let a stupid movie for kids get to me like that." he confessed quietly.

"It got to me." A crooked smile accompanied the admission, Alison stepping a bit closer, hand fluttering down to rest against him shoulder once more before falling down to her side. "Kinda wanted to just get up and leave the movie theater, really." She wished she'd given in, just grabbed his hand and dragged him off, really.

"I can see why Forge was so reluctant to go see it. Hit a little close to home. I've even got the black suit..." he offered up feebly. "I ... flashed back, to the accident. It wasn't fun."

And Alison could remember only too well the sound of the hardware clicking into place, after the volunteer day at the hospital. Reaching out she gently freed the tea tin and cover from his grasp, setting both down before taking his hands in hers. "If I'd realized..." she trailed off, shaking her head in mute apology.

"Relax. I'm not some fragile and delicate flower that needs to be sheltered." he said, but in a kind voice. "And, while I'm thinking of it, I owe you an apology for the way I was acting on the Staff board." he said with a sigh. "It was stupid of me, and I'm sorry."

She figured that was going to be said at one point. It might take him time to stop and think about something, at times, but Haroun always got there, eventually. It still felt so very good to hear it though, without any prompting or fussing on her part. It was more real than anything any pouting at him would have earned her. "Mmm. Okay." Leaning in for a hug seemed to be simple enough. "Try not to do it again?" She wasn't asking for promises, knowing how Haroun's mind worked at times, about such things.

"I'll work on it." he said with a slight smile. "There are three people here who can get under my skin in no time flat. You, because you're gorgeous and I love you and all that. Nathan, because he's the closest thing I'll ever have to a brother. And Sam." he confessed.

She was trying to fight a smile despite it all, because being told she was gorgeous and loved (and all that) did that to her. And now, maybe tomorrow wouldn't be the disaster today had been at the recording studio. That still smarted, in so many unpleasant ways. As had other things, but she didn't feel like bringing that up just now. Most particularly not with what she was trying to do that weekend, though it certainly hadn't done wonders for her just then from the results of her work thus far. Which was, she kept trying to tell herself, stupid of her. He hadn't really meant it. He'd even said so. She had to let go of things on her side, to keep a balance.

"And Sam, because his power doesn't turn on him." It was said as simply and as uncomplicated as possible, Alison not thinking just then that it had anything to do with her.

"Something like that, yeah." he said, relieved that she'd given him the out. He really didn't want to go into the intricacies of his complicated relationship with the eldest Guthrie. And now he wouldn't have to. "When it comes to the genetic lottery, the kid drew an ace to my joker." he said with a shrug.

"You're both XOs. This will have to be worked out at one point, Haroun. Not instant friendship, but civility at the very least... that point will need to be reached." She sighed, just a touch, and leaned her head forward to rest her cheek against his shoulder.

"Hey, most of the time I do OK! And I got through my entire day of toothbrush-scrubbery without even mouthing off once!" he protested, no stating that this was because he didn't actually say anything at all to Sam. "My girl's all nice and shiny and pretty now." he said with a grin. "Oh, and the Blackbird looks good too." he added after a second.

"Good. She should." Pulling back just a bit, still leaning against him but able to look at him directly, Alison shook her head a touch. "I think we want more than one day of tooth brushing duty without mouthing off." A pause. "And no need to have tooth brushing duty to start with." Taking a deep breath, she let it go - and the topic as well, in the process. Beating it in with a stick wouldn't help. "But I think you know that one by now. And I won't repeat it ad nauseam."

Haroun sighed. "Fine. But you'll need to find something new for me to clean with a toothbrush." he said. "Blackbird's all buffed and shiny now." Grinning at Alison, he added the tea leaves to the now-hot water.

Laughing quietly, Alison walked around the counter and then leaned on it, shaking her head. "Noo, one day was enough. I meant we need to not have any more days of that. Or no mouthing off without tooth brushing being involved." She paused, then snickered faintly. "No mouthing off! And no need to assign toothbrush duty. There you go. I think that version made sense." She nodded gravely at that, pondering which mugs should be fished out – the collection she had here was small, but varied nonetheless.

"Yeah, well, we'll see." he said, refusing to commit himself to Being Good. "Come on, this'll take a little time to get happy." he said, heading back out to the living room and flopping into his chair. "I just can't help but thinking about something, though. About going bad, about flipping over to the Dark Side, if you will."

Two mugs were swiftly retrieved from the cupboard and set on the counter before Alison joined him, frowning a bit at his words. "What do you mean, joining the Dark Side?" He had this thing about flopping into chairs most of the time, which meant she either had to pick the couch or settle in his lap. And while she didn't mind the latter, she couldn't always just do that, could she? Perching on the arm of the chair and leaning a bit towards him, she gave him a curious look, waiting for the answer.

Haroun shrugged and tried to organize his thoughts. "It's a dangerous business, the one we're in. There are powers, and the people to use them, that can completely flip your brain around. Make you do things you'd just as soon not, and then make you like the doing." he said, struggling to explain it. Sighing, he unflopped himself, walked over to the couch she was sitting on, and sprawled bonelessly across it, resting his head in her lap.

It reminded her of what had happened when Stryker had kidnapped the professor, and taken over the mansion. Shaking her head a bit, Alison settled in a bit more comfortably on the couch, careful not to jar Haroun in any way. "It is. Dangerous. But it could be anything else too, and not just that..." She smiled down at him just a bit, resting one hand on his chest, trailing a tip of a finger down his cheek with the other.

"Well, yeah. It could be any one of a number of things." he conceded. "But seeing what happened to Anakin - it just made me start thinking of them. You should be fine, though. You're not pregnant - if you are then we need to have a Talk - and I'm not a telekinetic." he joked feebly.

"I'm not pregnant, no." And if her eyes got a bit wide at that thought, Alison supposed the shaking of her head and the hair conveniently slipping loose to frame her face might hide that nicely. "And you're Haroun, which suits me perfectly fine. And doesn't make me worry about the going to the Dark Side or any of that, mmm?" she leaned down, twisting a bit to plant a light kiss on his forehead, before straightening up once more, still brushing his cheek lightly.

Haroun gazed up at Alison and gave her one of his relatively rare tender smiles. "Tea's just about ready." he said softly. "But I don' wanna get up. I like it here."

It was those smiles that made the world stop and tilt away gently, leaving nothing but the two of them. Swallowing a bit, throat tightening, Alison smiled back, leaning down once more to steal another brief kiss. "Oven self-shuts after a while. Innit neat?" Fingers still moving lightly, she traced his jawline.

"I kinda like it here too."