Cosmic Ice

And there I found Mars, all without me.

Mr. Loverman -Ricky Montgomery


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"Asami Sato, I'm so glad you could make it!" Harvey, dressed in a white tuxedo the pocket and collar linked by a gold chain and his hip to talisman, exclaimed pulling her into an unwarranted hug. She hugged him back and tapped his back signaling for him to let go but he stayed in the hug longer till she sort of pushed him away, "Of course," she pushed a fist to his shoulder, "It's your birthday." she said. Harvey smirked, "Yeah it is. I'm officially eighteen now." he cooed before leaning slightly closer, "We're now the same age." chuckled him.

Asami opened her mouth to say something instead a silent pause occurred as she debated saying anything, "That's not... that's not how it works." she murmured getting a hum of indifference from the taller boy, "Mhm, sure." He looked towards Kuvira, who was dressed in slate dress trousers and a long sleeved black blouse. "Oh-ho-ho-ho there gorgeous... you are-" "Gay. Also," she stuck a hand out, "Kuvira.", Harvey sighed dreadfully long throwing his head back and covering his face with his palms, "Why are all the hot ones gay..." he grumbled before sighing and shaking it. "Harvey, Ian, Arney, whatever you want to call me. Harvey is preferred." he sputtered. "Huiarnviu Blackstone Varrick-Ruiz is my full name though." Added him.

"Yup, well aware. Tahno's talked about you." she said and he immediately tensed. His eyes narrowed and there was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds, "What did he say?" Harvey bellowed. Kuvira's upper lip raised in a slight weirded out by this suspicious behavior. "Uh, just that you're a fun guy." answered her. He stayed silent staring at her for a few more seconds too long, the only sounds being distant music before his annoying smile returned again, "Okay, good good. Don't believe anything else the vampire tells you about me. He can't tell the difference between a joke and reality sometimes." Harvey laughed, "Anyways, I am a fun guy-- who does fungi, ha! Get it? Fun guy? Fungi?"

That moment confused Asami, she couldn't tell whether this was him making a dumb joke being how he usually is and making shit awkward, or if he was hiding something and forcefully making said jokes to deflect from that. Plus finding out his full name rang one too many bells, 'Varrick', as in Inik Blackstone Varrick the shady business man who's scammed loads of unsuspecting victims and gotten away with it cause of his smart wife. But she wondered where the Spanish 'Ruiz' came from. Varrick's Inuit and his wife's Chinese, so... Harvey must be adopted. 

No, can't be, he's too much like Varrick to be not his blood. If that was the case, that means people like him naturally occur and that's a huge problem for earth. In her train of thought one carriage needed to be unlocked, what is someone like him hiding? And why the fuck is everyone hiding shit!? Harvey sighed, wiping a tear, "Alright, well, maladies," he gestured inside the manor, "Please make yourselves at home and drain my liquor!" Harvey exclaimed, proudly emphasizing that the alcohol was his.

Just as they were walking into the area where the party was, Asami felt Harvey tug her to stay behind. "What the-" "Hey." he whispered , a whole new expression of disarray on his face. She was confused, "What are you doing?" she huffed with knitted brows. Harvey had a just as confused look on his face, "The Kuvira girl you came with." he whispered uncontextualized. Asami sighed, "Harvey, she just said she's gay." "I know that." He defended aloof, "But if she's les, and your bi, and I've never seen-"

"Who told you I was bi?" she disrupted taken aback at his words and how casually sure he seemed claiming such.  Harvey jerked his head back a tad, "...I thought it was common knowledge?" "Says who?-" "Shh! I just thought you were out." "I'm not..!" Asami choked and Harvey raised his brows coyly, "Mhm, I didn't say anything about it, don't get your nickers in a bunch. But you and Kuvira coming together is still confusing me." he uttered.

"Why?" Asami raised a brow. He looked around then leaned in to her ear, "Because of Korra?" he whispered and she felt a tinge of annoyance at the mention of her. "What about her?" she said in an irritated tone. Harvey moved away and shrugged, "Aren't you two... like, together?" his voice went lower secretively. She felt the most amount of kerfuffle and dishevelment at this out of all his accusations and assumptions. Her ears picked up a mild tint of red and her mouth slight open in speechlessness. "Wh... wh- no! No, of course we're not fucking dating-- why would you even think that!?" she snapped and he raised his arms in surrender.

"Okay, sorry-my bad, I just thought, from the way you two are always together and have no personal space between you, that you were like, smooshing cookies or something." "Harvey, it's your birthday, don't make me fucking ruin it by hurting you." Asami grumbled pointing a finger at him threateningly. He raised his hands in surrender before she scoffed and walked away. "I swear they're dating..." he mumbled under his breath.

The main room where it seemed everyone occupied was packed. The white colour scheming spread across every surface but left the golden chandeliers hanging above untouched. The interior was way less modern than the outside of the manor was but still managed to have the perfect atmosphere for such parties. The smell of various alcohols and junk food travelled the air delightfully and garnered a desire for delectable tasting of them. The music was upbeat and loud, it was pretty noisy, but then again when wasn't it?

It was a sea of faces each less familiar than the last, all dressed accordingly to the theme. Most dudes were in tuxedos and suits, and there was two people wearing the same exact dress. A guy and a girl, the guy was wearing it better though. And based on his mannerisms he probably also knew it. Most girls were also wearing dresses or two piece formal wear with skirts or trousers, everyone was dressed like better versions of how their parents would at banquets and events.

Asami caught herself staring at someone in particular. Almost everything about them was a bit too familiar, from their dark brunet hair to their mannerism and their blue eyes. The problem was it wasn't her shade of blue and it wasn't her person either. She felt her shoulders drop a little at that, until someone placed a hand on one almost startling her. She turned around, "Oh, it's only you." Asami exhaled at the sight of Kuvira. "Only me huh?" Kuvira chuckled raising a brow. "Sound quite disappointed, were you expecting someone else?" asked her. Maybe a little. Asami shook her head with a slight flush at her own unexpected tone, "No, no! I was just startled is all." she blurted.

Kuvira seemed to find her reaction amusing with the spread of her smile, "Sorry, that's on me. I was looking for you, thought my date bailed on me. Where'd you disappear to?" she asked. Asami's mind lingered on her choice of words. Date. I mean, the difference between plus one and date is a romantic scale with one on opposing sides. She wanted to actually get to know Kuvira before deciding whether or not it was just finding someone hot and stuff. But then again, it was only a word. "Harvey wanted to talk about something stupid." Asami finally answered almost scowling at his assumption.

"How stupid?" Kuvira questioned. Asami huffed, "So stupid. He thought I was dating a friend-- well, I guess, not a friend... right now." she slurred mildly confusing herself trying to put a label on it. Kuvira raised a brow, "That sounds like an explanation in the making. Care to give one over some wine?", the feeling of Kuvira's hand slipping from her shoulder to her waist as she said that semi tensed her effective immediately. "Uh- sure- yeah." Asami's best attempt not to stutter like an idiot.

After walking over to an area not so crowded and near a table with a bunch of glasses of wine and an assortment of various fancy looking drinks, they talked about the previously mentioned topic. So, it was mostly Asami doing the talking and Kuvira listening about her problems. Problem. Even over the loud music, and when it changed to different songs a handful of times, there was nothing that seemed to stop Asami from talking about Korra. She started off about the initial Harvey assuming they were dating but... derailed, after drinking a few glasses of whatever wine Kuvira was pouring the two.

"-Because she's a nice person, y'know? When she isn't being her. But I know it's not her her, it's some shitty defense mechanism. Psychologically it's called PAPD, where a person displays their feelings in passive ways due to repressed communication issues, and, slash, or where some people who've been hurt in life will start making themselves mentally unapproachable to fend off anything and anyone, even the people not trying to hurt them because they're too accustomed to being hurt and broken down by someone they could've trusted most-- right?"

Kuvira nodded awkwardly taking a sip.

"So their mind starts to think that if that person could do that, anyone can. Then they put up a shell that has thorns all over it, but that shell isn't gonna do anything-- it's like that cheese where it's inside is extremely mushy but the outside's a little bit tougher. She's the cheese!" Asami exclaimed throwing her hands to the side and the music was already loud but her sudden raise of tone startled Kuvira a little.

"She's sweet and kind and caring and funny and cute when she does that smile thingy where it's a little dopey and lopsided on the left. It doesn't always seem like it, but she fucking cares. And maybe it's just me who sees it. But she does! She always knows when something's wrong or something's making me not happy and does shit about it, like there so many times I remember where I saw her being that her, and it's the version I like a whole lot more than the one she puts up because it's her without whatever she might be dealing with that's causing that shit and I just want her to feel fucking okay with me and being vulnerable and talking to me!" Asami blurted without even registering what she was saying. Kuvira, however, was registering all of it and started to pick up a little bit of assumptions.

"But then she does this stupid shit of not telling me that Iroh fucking cheated on me for the whole time we've known each other-- which I know was only two damn weeks but still, I thought we were closer than that- it feels like we're closer than that. it feels like I've known her for my whole life and it feels like she's what I fucking need already. I'm jealous of her and how easy it is for her to be so damn-- so- so her! I want to be her-- or with her- I'm so confused! I thought I was straight until I met her and now I think I'm bi because of her, but I don't want to say I like her because right now I'm really mad at her for lying to me. And it'd be fucked up to actually like her because we're friends and I know she doesn't like me ba- doesn't like me that way." Asami sighed. "What do you think?" she asked Kuvira.

"Well, to my unfortunate dismay, it sounds like you have feelings for this girl. And I think you should talk to her about the whole 'not saying anything' bit." Kuvira raised her brows nodding with a smile, "Because from that, bunch, of information you really sound like you like her but don't want to admit it. Plus if she's made you think gay thoughts that's not nothing, I would know." she said. Asami meant to mentally face palm but did it physically, "Shit... I'm so sorry. I didn't, that was terrible of me to rant about someone... like that... to you," she looked up with a remorseful expression, "Considering-" "No, no, it's okay. I don't mind it at all, you're good, don't worry. I hope I can offer up some good romantic advice," she nudged her a bit, "From a friend."


 
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