Fitting Back Together

The Crater Between Us

"People don't get what they deserve,

they just get what they get."

- House

. . .

"Stop staring at my ass."

"I was actually staring at your legs."

And imagining what they would look like with my face pressed between them.

Magna huffed. "Right."

Smiling to herself, Yumiko glanced away, examining the world around her. She wasn't sure if it was just the newfound angle but Magna's apartment looked even more dilapidated on second inspection. Pursing her lips, she moved her gaze back to the 'kitchen', noting with grudging praise that it at least seemed clean. And functional.

"Stop judging my kitchen."

"I'm not-"

"You are." Magna set the spatula down - none too lightly - and turned around. "You've never been subtle in your judgment - of anything. Always been terrible at hiding it. So yeah I know you hate my kitchen. And my mattress. My whole apartment - or, well, room, I suppose, is the more accurate term. But this is what I've got. And it's a hell of a lot better than some of the shit I've had in the past. Certainly beats being in a cell."

Yumiko clenched her jaw. "You deserve better."

Had always deserved better.

"Maybe. So do a lot of other people here. And I'm not all that comfortable with getting better if they don't get it too. I'm not special just because I'm fucking you."

Yumiko couldn't help a flinch. The words stung. "You really couldn't have found a better way to phrase that?"

Magna sighed, an apology in her eyes. "I'm not special just because I'm special to you."

That softened the sting a little. Reducing what they had to fucking hurt, even if she knew that it meant more than that, had always meant more than that.

(if Magna and Nicole were alike in anything it was in their ability to cut her with nothing more than a phrase; a twist of the tongue. Magna's cuts were almost always ignited by hurt and defensiveness. Fear. But Nicole's had been born of a desire to inflict harm. To brutalize. And, unlike Magna, she would never retrace her steps to soothe the wound left behind - not unless it served her)

"Yes. You are." Yumiko crossed the distance between them. "You are special because you're special to me. But you're also special because you're you." She reached for her arm, gripping it tightly. "You're Magna."

"That's a nice sentiment. Really. But being Magna has never afforded me any privileges in the past and there's no reason why it should start now." She tugged free of her hold, before swinging back to the pan, mouth turning down as she started to work the spatula under the omelette.

Yumiko could tell from the unnecessary aggression in every scrape, that she was still pissed.

Why did they always end up arguing in kitchens? Their first real, major argument had been in a kitchen as well. And tonight after the ball. . . The places were cursed. Or possibly this was just their way of getting revenge for the multiple times Yumiko had set them on fire.

"Magna-"

"I get it. You're used to a certain standard."

She nearly scoffed. "You forget that I spent the last ten years out there right along side you. It's not that I'm used to a certain standard. It's just that I don't like when the standards we're experiencing are different. Especially when it's causing you pain."