Kotlc Oneshots!

Club (Tamella)

(Tam pov)

Tam was sitting on the couch at Teirgan's house. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," he called.

The door opened to reveal Marella with the tiny braids in her hair and her rumpled tunic. She scanned the room.

"Is Linh here?" she asked.

"No." Tam shook his head. "She's at Wylie and Prentice's place. She should be back in a little bit, though, if you wanna wait. It'll be about thirty more minutes."

"That's fine." She plopped on the couch opposite of him.

Tam went back to the book he was reading before Marella came in. Although he wasn't sure what to do, just sitting there with his sister's best friend.

Marella must've sensed the awkwardness, too. She started to tap her fingers on the side table, bobbing her head along to the beat with pursed lips.

"Soo," she eventually said, breaking the silence. "Watcha doing."

"Reading." He held up the book in his hands. "What did you think I was doing with it? Having a staring contest?"

"Well, excuse me for trying to start a conversation."

Tam narrowed his eyes at her, but they widened when his gaze landed on her hands. "Umm, you're smoking."

She reeled on him. "What did you just say to me?"

"No," he pointed to her hands, which started to have thick black clouds emitting from them. "You're legit smoking."

"Oh, shoot!"

She started shaking her hands as if drying them off. It didn't work. She darted to the kitchen sink.

Tam dropped his book and followed her. He made it just in time to see Marella's hands sparking, stading helplessly by the sink, too afraid to touch anything in case of starting a fire. He turned on the faucet and guided her hands under the rushing water.

That seemed to do the trick. The sparking stopped, and the smoking was replaced by a steaming hiss. Marella let out a sigh of relief.

"You good?" Tam asked. Marella nodded.

They both noticed he was still holding onto her wrists. Tam snatched his hands back to himself. They both flushed.

"Thanks," Marella murmured.

"Of course. Don't need you burning the house down." He let out an awkward chuckle.

She raised her eyebrows. "Don't make me burn the bangs right off your forehead, buddy. You know I'll do it."

Tam raised his hands in surrender. "Ok, ok. Understood."

His eyes drifted back to her hands. "So, how's your sessions with Fintan been."

She crossed her arms across her chest. "He's being stubborn, as per usual. Ability wise, it's going. Making progress. Not as much as I'd like, but that's just how it is."

He leaned against the counter. "Understandable. I sometimes wish I wasn’t as powerful as I am. It's... scary knowing how far I could go if I lose myself."

He stared at his slightly discolored wrists. They were left from the bonds lady Giselle had installed on him to make him behave. The constant reminder of what he was capable of. The constant torcher of fighting against the guilt of what he'd done. He shuddered.

Marella snorted. "We have exact opposite problems. You would benefit from having less control over shadows, and I'd benefit from having more control over fire." She looked down. "But, I get what you mean. I'm terrified of becoming corrupt like Fintan and Brant. Honestly, I feel like the council is mostly to blame for this. Fintan didn't go insane until pyrokenesis was banned. And I'm not saying what he's done was right, but..."

"I know what you mean," Tam agreed. "Our abilities are a part of us. We can't help that. I also understand people's fears about fire, but I just think that means more training programs by the council could help. People shouldn't have to repress their abilities. I don't understand why some abilities have to be banned or shunned." His eyes tilted down. "It's really not fair."

"Y'know, maybe we have more in common than we thought," Marella told him. "People don't really like shades either, do they?"

He shook his head, then brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "I get that it's freaky. I'm not saying it isn't. I just wish people wouldn't look at me and go, 'Oh, that's a shade, he's up to no good'. But I guess you know what that's like."

"I do." She paused to softly laugh. "We should make a club for people with distrusted abilities. For all the Pyrokinetics, Shades, Inflictors, and Mesmers of the Lost Cities. Heck, even the other elemental abilities. They get a bad rep, too sometimes."

Tam smiled. "I'm down for that. When do you wanna start? We can try to get Linh in on this, too."

"Next week if that's cool with you. And that'd be awesome. I'll talk to her about it when she gets back."

"Works with me."

Marella chuckled. And, wow. The way her eyes twinkled and the way the light reflected off her copper plaited hair. Was she always that good looking. Even usually looking like she was rushing while getting ready, something about it made Tam's face suddenly feel warm.

She didn't seem to notice. Or, maybe she did. Because when Linh came through the door a couple of seconds later, she tossed her unruly curled over her shoulder and went to greet her friend. It almost seemed... flirty. Was it? It definitely was. She tossed him a wink and a teasing smile.

He tugged his bangs back over his eyes and turned away to hide himself. There was no way he was going to let himself get a crush on his sister's best friend. Not happening.

But it was too late.

I feel like I'm alone in this ship, so I had to do one, alright. LOOK AT THEIR POTENTIAL! 😭