xp_logs | kevin & darcy | spinning a yarn

xp_darcy posting in

Kevin pulls apart Darcy's "oops" story, turning it into the start of a teaching moment.

Kevin had mostly left Darcy alone for several days, letting her work on her own issues, deliberately not discussing what had been said publicly on the journals. Finally, at the end of the week, he'd found himself at his usual table at Finnigan's for lunch, enjoying a robust meal of whiskey, whiskey, and a shot of whiskey as he worked through his newspaper.

Darcy was wary as she entered the pub, but her week hadn't gone great and she really needed comfort carbs to drown her stupidity in. In the absence of her favorite food trucks, this was her best alternative that wasn't grabbing overpriced canned pasta from the bodega on the corner. They were busy, and she mentally bemoaned the fact that the only empty seats she could see were at the bar or across from Kevin. She didn't want to bother him, his silence over the last several days speaking his displeasure to her clearly, at least in her mind.

She slid into the open seat without any of her usual enthusiasm. "Sorry, I'll get it to go and be out of your way in a few minutes," she said quietly, eyes trained on the table as her fingers clutched reflexively on her purse straps.

Kevin shifted his paper to one side and regarded her with raised eyebrows.

"Will you? I don't recall asking for that." He said, taking a sip from his lunch. "I need to finish an article first but after that, I'm free."

"Your silence seemed to say plenty."

"It's been a busy few days and you've had your assignments." Kevin said lightly. "Why? Did you need me to say something to you?"

"You usually stop to say something, even when we're busy," Darcy replied. One of the servers stopped by, and she gave her order with a quiet thanks. "It's.. outside my typical experience, I suppose. Combined with this hell of a week..."

"I was out of town for three days. And surprisingly, took a couple of days off." He took a second sip. "So that makes me think your penitent Griselda act isn't inspired by anything I did."

Darcy wrinkled her nose in distaste. Of all the things to be compared to, that particular opera? Gross. "Or maybe I think I have a handle on the difference between your busy silence and you choosing not to talk to me."

He regarded her levelly for a moment and then put down his paper. "Fair enough. I was hoping you'd talk to me about what was going on. What is really going on."

She sat back, frowning. "What's really going on? I went to Laurie's to give her a mani/pedi because she's been down lately and realizing she can't do it for herself really upset her, plus an influx of bad news about her arm, just. I wanted to pamper her a bit. And then she mentioned she enjoyed what happened at the Gala, and something I thought was a one-time thing turned into... well, whatever hooking up twice is. I accidentally used my powers on her while we were having sex and my wording was vague enough that it caused her powers to react, causing a feedback loop of sorts that gave us both an incredibly intense orgasm." It was mostly the truth, and the more she said it, carefully thought only of it, the easier the omission became.

"Hmm... " Kevin said. He picked up one of his whiskeys and pushed it over to her before ordering another round. "That's tough. Tough situation. Tell me what happened again."

"Laurie asked me to give her a mani/pedi after she realized she couldn't do it herself anymore. She's been down lately because she's gotten a lot of bad news with her arm queries, so I wanted to pamper her. We talked about the Gala and she enjoyed what happened after, so we hooked up again. At some point while we were having sex I ended up giving her a direct eye contact command, vague enough to make her powers react. It caused a pretty intense feedback loop, so the night gets hazy after that, but we woke up in her bed wrapped around each other and she was visibly leaking." Darcy wasn't really sure what he was going for, but she didn't mind repeating the story. Again. If he asked a third time she'd consider getting explicit about the sex act to distract him.

"Interesting. I hope she's doing better." He motioned to the glass and the both drank as new shots hit the table. "Tell me again what happened? I'm an old man. It takes me a few times to understand."

Darcy sat up as her food was slipped in front of her. "I think you just want the naughty details of my romp for your private time later, gramps," she teased, less tense now that she had cheesy carbs and Kevin was treating her a little more normally. "Laurie's been down lately because she's gotten nothing but bad news with her arm queries, so when she asked to do mani/pedis and talk I jumped on the chance to pamper her. We gossiped about the Gala, and we ended up having excellent sex after admitting we liked hooking up with each other and Namor afterwards, but didn't need a man as a buffer." She shrugged, pausing to eat a bite of her pasta. "While I was going down on her I ended up giving her a direct eye contact command that was vague enough to make her powers react. The resulting orgasm was intense enough for both of us that we don't remember much of the rest of the night, but we woke up in bed together the next morning and her skin was flushed purple."

She ate a few more bites, finally adding. "She's going to be fine. We talked to Amelia."

"That's good. You must be relieved." Kevin said. "With your... I don't know, friend, girlfriend, going through that, it's scary." He shook his head. "Do me one favour? Just tell me what happened? I mean, I know it was the eye contact that set everything off, but what specifically?" She gave him a look and he smiled. "Hey, I'm a dirty old man. You told me yourself. Indulge me this once."

"I was going down on her and could feel that she was close, so I looked up at her and told her to let go. I meant an orgasm, but..." she spread her hands, a bit of a 'what can you do' gesture, "instructions unclear, release pheromones for the most intense orgasm of your life. I don't remember what happened after, just some snatches of sounds and impressions of the way her flesh feels under my hands, but when we woke up the next morning the purple was flushing her skin too."

"Sounds like a trip. But, I'm missing some details. Can you tell me again?" He clinked glasses with her as they both chased back some whiskey.

Darcy stuck another bite of mac and cheese into her mouth, chewing defiantly. Once she swallowed, she quipped, "Damn Boss, would you like a play-by-play of the experience? I know men in ye olden days were more about ignoring a woman's orgasm, but surely you've picked up some tricks since then."

"Fair. I'm an old man and likely a poor lover. But I wanted to focus on a couple of things. Like your powers don't fit the profile of what you said you did. Especially pushing her into purple stages."

"I think we did something like a feedback loop? I pushed her because my control slipped, which made her control slip, which maybe made me slip again in a cycle? I don't actually know, I really don't remember anything coherent after that until we woke up, just the snatches I mentioned."

"OK. And yet, you have told me you don't use your powers, but you were deft enough to make her create a cycle strong enough to create this loop?" He said carefully.

"It wasn't intentional," Darcy stressed. "And I'm just guessing at that part of it. We were really in the moment. I slipped up, because I'm incredibly bossy in the bedroom when the mood strikes. Power-augmented orgasms happened." She took a sip of her whiskey. "I don't know what to tell you, Boss."

"OK. You can tell me the truth. Because I know bullshit when I hear it, but I won't call you out. If you need this fiction, I won't argue. But you and I know it's not true."

Darcy sighed. "What gave it away? Might as well be a teaching moment. And it's .. mostly not fiction. Laurie noticed she's been leaking enough for her nails to turn purple. I thought it would be better if we tried to stay aboveboard, but agreed with her concerns that people would likely be assholes. So I offered to take the heat for this one, and the rest really happened like I said."

"I'm a professional liar. You're not even close yet." Kevin said.

Darcy finished off her lunch, giving him a smile. "Teach me. I don't want an amateur fuck-up being the reason I blow an op or worse."

"So tell me why you took the hit for this? Tell me why you didn't raise a bunch of red flags? Was it love?"

"Pfft, no." Darcy shook her head, serious. "I love Laurie as a friend, and before our recent foray into sex I might've said it was familial. But she told me immediately, and she was scared but willing to go through the proper channels to get it fixed. And yeah, it's concerning, but considering the stress she's been putting herself under I'm not surprised. So I thought... I need training anyways. If I can shield her and get both of us help, then it's worth having very obviously fucked up. Nobody gets harmed, we don't have to sneak around. I get to cut a few people off from being assholes to her because they like me okay." She finished her drink, looking him in the eye. "If she'd outright refused no matter what, I would've done her nails and then asked you for a meeting to discuss my concerns and try to get her help."

"It's not that simple. If I believed you that you're having 'power accidents', I need to pull you from the field, make sure you're not going to endanger yourself or a mission as a result. I need to divert you away from the work we need you to do and prioritize your time to focus solely on your powers because we can't afford to have you have an 'accident' at work." Kevin sighed. "As far as I can tell, whatever the situation was with Collins, it's mostly personal, which means it isn't really my business or my concern. But next time, if you're going to lie for someone, you need to frame it so it doesn't require other people to follow it up. Personally, if you'd just said that Collins had turned purple after sex, I don't think anyone would have questioned it further."

Darcy sighed. "Her control is much better than that, regardless of how ridiculous people get about her. I had a slip, in a very specific situation. I don't need to be stuck at a desk for it, because she won't be coming into the field with me. In the meantime, I'll be careful when I have sex with her. Or anyone else."

"My point is if I believed that it was just you having 'a' slip, the consequences are a lot more than you thought through. And suddenly it's me and Colbert, and later Jean or Emma in training that you need to keep selling the lie to. Four people who are extremely good at detecting half truths and bullshit." Kevin said, picking his paper back up. "Every lie starts a path. In this job you need to see five, ten steps ahead along that path or you're going to find things get very bad very quickly. It's not enough to sell the lie. You have to understand where it leads."

"And three can keep a secret if two are dead," she murmured, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I thought some of that through, but mostly I was flying by the seat of my pants. Most people aren't going to dig too deep for the details, and honestly... I am not delusional enough to think Emma wouldn't see right through it, and also my reasons for doing it. I didn't think far enough ahead, you're right."

"I understand trying to protect someone you care about. And fuck knows this shop keeps plenty of its own secrets. But the next time you need some kind of excuse that could splash back on your job or your training, you might as well talk to us first. Otherwise, when things don't add up, the first instinct that all of us have to start digging." Kevin said, taking a sip as his eyes checked the football scores. "And frankly, the last thing either of us needs is the other rummaging around their personal lives."

"The last thing, hm? You know saying that is just going to make me want to rummage, Boss." Darcy rolled her eyes at him. "Honestly, it's like you've never spent ten minutes watching me dig into data before."

"My personal life is exceptionally boring. If drinking, escorts, and watching the Giants lose really floats your boat, be my guest. Just make sure I don't catch you."

"Probably should've stuck to the one night stands myself. I wouldn't bother hiding, I'd just ask you to tell me more of your old man stories. They're generally useful and I've.." she trailed off, casting about for the right word. Liked or enjoyed was too cavalier, especially since some of the topics were painful or gory. Preferred, maybe? "Generally been appreciative of learning history from people who experienced it? Having the personal stories to put with dry facts and figures."

"Great. Now I sound like one of those animatronic Presidents at Disneyland." He replied wryly.

"Oh, is that why the Nixon is so creepily realistic?" The sweet smile Darcy flashed him didn't match up to her words. "The professional impersonation scene would like your secrets."

"And now I miss those 'not speaking to you days' keenly. Get back to work, Lewis."

"Liar," she replied fondly, setting enough cash on the table to cover her lunch and a tip. "I'll see you back at the office. And. Kevin? Please don't do the not speaking thing again. I don't handle silence being used against me as a punishment very well."