(Metal) Claws of Destiny

Chapter 5 - Rainy Nights of New York

A/N: GUYS I WATCHED NO WAY HOME TODAY IT WAS AMAZING AND ALFRED MOLINA LOOKS THE SAME AS HE USED TO, HE IS JUST AS HOT, HE AGED LIKE FINE WINE anyway moving on here's the next chapter :D

You laid in your bed for a couple of hours, memories of past events floating around in your mind. Hearing the soft lullaby of raindrops against your window, you were just about to fall asleep, your thoughts swirling like waves around your head slower and slower, like an ocean calming down after a storm of emotion.
However, rudely you have been awoken by a gentle, but nevertheless not-so-subtle knock on your window.
Opening up your eyes, partially awake and groaning loudly, you untangled yourself from the addictively warm blanket and walked towards your sliding window.
What could possibly be bringing so many visitors to my shitty apartament today...

You weren't really registering that it is, in fact, your window and somebody is outside of it, even though you live quite high up and it would be kind of impossible for anyone to be out there, unless the window-cleaning man Bob was here at 1AM, but your sleepy brain could not really comprehend this yet and so you pulled the curtains back and looked, seeing what took a good minute to understand.
Otto was here.
Outside of your window.
"what"
You paused, just staring at him dumbfounded, trying to figure out wether this is reality or just a strange dream, but then decided usher him in before anybody saw him outside of the window to your apartament.
He was making a sour-looking face at you, one that expressed "how long am I gonna have to wait for you to open a window"
You opened it fully, not caring about his current sass, so that he would fit through- thankfully the frame of the window was tall and wide, this man towered over you the minute he entered in, his presence waking your mind up completely in an instant. With him he brought in the fresh outside air, the smell of rain mixed with the smell of the cologne, which always lingered on his coat. You suddenly felt a little vulnerable- he has never been inside of your apartament before, and ever since he became Doc Ock, he was sort of meaner, a little bit more threatening, and it felt even more so because- "Ohhh shit I'm not wearing my suit am I?- I'm in pjs, tank top and shorts, well isn't this great-"

You felt your face go warm, realising you were wearing much less than you usually would be in front of the guy you used to work for in a lab.

He spoke up first, unsurely, keeping his eyes- or at least you supposed so, unable to see through his glasses- glued to your own, his tone of voice gentler than you would expect it to be, as if apologetic, noticing he has woken you up.

"Hello, Y/N"
"Otto hi- I just- wasn't expecting a visitor so late at night, would you hold on please, just let me go put something on, I'll be right back "
He nodded, and you could have sworn that he looked you up and down very quickly, but you couldn't be sure because of the dim light of your apartament making it too difficult to see beyond those green lenses of his.

After a little while you returned into the living room, dressed in a robe, but what caught your eye was that Otto didn't seem to notice you were there, he was busy staring at a photograph of you, on your graduation day- it was shoved far back onto a high, dusty shelf, but damn him and his height, he could see it perfectly.

You spoke up, deciding to catch his attention.
"That was a few years ago, my graduation... It felt good to be able to leave everything behind that day..."

His eyebrow quirked up.
"Everything?" 

"Yes... but not much of it was that important anyway..."

Your mind flashed back to Annelies and how you promised to get a coffee with her.

Not much, but not all of it. At least I got to see her again.

Otto made a thoughtful humming noise, averting his attention from the photo to the rest of your living room.

"So anyway, you came here for a reason, Octavius, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

That seemed to bring him back into the present, his face suddenly lighting up a little, his eyes now definitely on you.

"Y/N, I've been meaning to tell you that we have made great progress with the machine, I think it's finally going to work out-"

"We?"

You were a bit taken aback by the plural pronoun, wondering what he could mean.

"Yes, me, the actuators-it doesn't matter, we did it, I think it's just... it feels strange to work alone... I came here wondering if you'd like to see it, before I fully activate it, be a witness to a breakthrough?"

Sighing heavily, remembering your conversation over the rubble where your lab once was, you tried to connect your thoughts together.
Maybe it'll work this time...
You gave in, curiousity and weariness winning over the thought of doing nothing at all with a project you've been working so hard on for so damn long, and also leaving it all in his hands with no help or backup in case it all went wrong once more.

"Look Otto I'll... fine I'll come check it out ok? You know I was invested in this project just as much as you were, and since you've actually managed to do it then I'd love to see it just- not tonight, not at... 2 in the morning please"

He looked surprised, and seemed to be containing his excitement, his actuators however were moving and whirring around happily.

"Right, yes of course" 

You decided to change the subject, feeling a bit awkward but also tired from standing up on your barely-awake legs.

"Alright well, hey let's not just stand here in the middle of the room, sit on the sofa I'll bring something to drink"

And so you went into the kitchen, deciding to bring out two glasses, filling them with alcohol at the coffee table, then proceeded to take a place next to your guest on the couch.

"So... where do you even sleep? I doubt they let a so called 'villain of the city' rent a hotel room"

That made him smile, a smile which quickly faded but was an accomplishment nonetheless.

"I've not been sleeping much- mostly working, but if I do need to rest I sleep in the warehouse"

"The warehouse?? like with no bed or anything?"

"It's not too bad, once you get used to the dampness of it" He chuckled lightly, the leather of his coat squeaked against the leather of your sofa; but then his face turned back into a frown. "Although now that you mention it, it's been quite rough for the past couple of nights."

Feeling sympathy pulling at your heartstrings, you decided that you'd try to convince him somehow to stay in the warmth of your apartament, even if just for one night. You genuinely felt bad, after all, you could only imagine the cold, damp wearhouse where there wasn't a bed or a blanket, on top of that his mechanical arms probably didnt make it comfortable for him to... lay down
How does he actually sleep? does he just lay on his stomach or...
You decided to ponder on that some more later.

Watching as he took his drink and stared at the glass in his hand for a little while, you followed suit and raised your own glass, saying
"To... to rebuilding- to our old lab and to... new beginnings"
He looked over to you, his glass raised slightly, mouth a little ajar. Both of you downed the whole thing at once.
Yes... the burn of the alcohol is just what you needed recently.
Turning your body to face him, you cocked your head to the side, inquisitiveness finally getting the better of you, and deciding to make a bold move, you reached out your hand towards his face, delicately grabbing onto the rim of his glasses and, very slowly, as if expecting to be stopped, pulling them off of his face. You were pleasantly surprised when he made no effort to move, not even one of his actuators, he just sat there completely still, as if he was holding his breath too.
What you saw then, when the glasses rested in the palm of your hand, was a tired... no-exhausted, face of a man, who seemed to be partially crumbling.
There was something in his eyes that you could not figure out, a depth in which so many things were hidden, and when they looked into yours, the time seemed to have stopped once again on this very same night.