fic
To go with the AU where nothing terrible happens and Edward is a hero and he and Ivan are partners and everything is awesome. Because I got the crazy idea that Edward would flirt with Karina a lot and try to talk her into hanging out with him and Ivan and Pao-lin. Which Karina doesn't really want to because she wants to keep her hero-life separate from her actual life. G rated. Gen, save for the vaguest of flirting.
[Tiger & Bunny isn't mine]
-----------------
Karina can't say why she draws such a stark line between the two halves of her life, but Blue Rose (the Blue Rose her sponsors want her to be) is really not much like Karina Lyle at all and on some level she's okay with that. She has her friends from school and her music and her dreams and she's quite fine with keeping them separate from her life as a Hero.
Maybe that's why she frowns so darkly when Edward wraps long fingers around her wrist and starts tugging her over to where Ivan and Pao-lin are huddled by the door. Flashing a broad grin that isn't so much boy-next-door handsome as it is rebel-from-across-town. His tone brooking no argument when he says, "We're heading out. You're coming with."
"No, I'm not. I need to get home."
"Nope. We've had a long day of stupid photoshoots and we're going to the boardwalk and you're coming with us. It'll be fun, Ice Queen. You know what fun is, right?"
Karina simply keeps frowning because it's easier than stomping his instep (which would be mostly ineffective without her heeled boots anyway) or punching him in the stomach or freezing him to the floor or any of the other things that she's tried over the years when Edward starts tugging her into blurring the line between her work life and her social life. Not that any of these methods have ever worked for long anyway. He simply comes right back, flashing the same practiced smile that ultimately nets him far too much fan mail written on varying shades of pink, perfumed, stationary.
She wonders sometimes if his mail gets as explicitly perverse as hers does. She's seen some of the expressions he makes while flipping through the letters sometimes. Letters that are quickly shoved aside and he makes panicky noises when anyone else tries to look at them (actions that Nathan inevitably teases him about) so she figures he must, although it doesn't seem to happen as much as it used to since Barnaby showed up and there has been times when she's wanted to ask if he misses being propositioned by random women. Just to see if she can grate at his skin the same way he's been able to with her since day one.
"Yes, I know what fun is," she sighs after a moment because he hasn't stopped smiling and he still hasn't let go of her wrist. Even if his grip isn't tight it's firm and no amount of twisting seems to shake it. "I just don't see why you can't accept that I might have other things to do."
Edward's smile falters a bit and he aims a split-second glance over his shoulder in Ivan and Pao-lin's direction before turning back to face Karina, his shoulders jerking in an absent shrug. "You look lonely sometimes. Like Ivan did back in school. Dragging him into stuff worked... sort of. I figured I'd try it with you." Another shrug and then the grin comes back, even more brilliant than before. "Now come on. You can't tell me you have something more important to do than eat junk food and play overpriced carnival games. I'll win you a stuffed animal. Chicks dig that sort of thing, right?"
"Spare me. Maybe if you're lucky I'll win you something."
Edward simply gives her arm another gentle tug and this time she follows.
[Tiger & Bunny isn't mine]
-----------------
Karina can't say why she draws such a stark line between the two halves of her life, but Blue Rose (the Blue Rose her sponsors want her to be) is really not much like Karina Lyle at all and on some level she's okay with that. She has her friends from school and her music and her dreams and she's quite fine with keeping them separate from her life as a Hero.
Maybe that's why she frowns so darkly when Edward wraps long fingers around her wrist and starts tugging her over to where Ivan and Pao-lin are huddled by the door. Flashing a broad grin that isn't so much boy-next-door handsome as it is rebel-from-across-town. His tone brooking no argument when he says, "We're heading out. You're coming with."
"No, I'm not. I need to get home."
"Nope. We've had a long day of stupid photoshoots and we're going to the boardwalk and you're coming with us. It'll be fun, Ice Queen. You know what fun is, right?"
Karina simply keeps frowning because it's easier than stomping his instep (which would be mostly ineffective without her heeled boots anyway) or punching him in the stomach or freezing him to the floor or any of the other things that she's tried over the years when Edward starts tugging her into blurring the line between her work life and her social life. Not that any of these methods have ever worked for long anyway. He simply comes right back, flashing the same practiced smile that ultimately nets him far too much fan mail written on varying shades of pink, perfumed, stationary.
She wonders sometimes if his mail gets as explicitly perverse as hers does. She's seen some of the expressions he makes while flipping through the letters sometimes. Letters that are quickly shoved aside and he makes panicky noises when anyone else tries to look at them (actions that Nathan inevitably teases him about) so she figures he must, although it doesn't seem to happen as much as it used to since Barnaby showed up and there has been times when she's wanted to ask if he misses being propositioned by random women. Just to see if she can grate at his skin the same way he's been able to with her since day one.
"Yes, I know what fun is," she sighs after a moment because he hasn't stopped smiling and he still hasn't let go of her wrist. Even if his grip isn't tight it's firm and no amount of twisting seems to shake it. "I just don't see why you can't accept that I might have other things to do."
Edward's smile falters a bit and he aims a split-second glance over his shoulder in Ivan and Pao-lin's direction before turning back to face Karina, his shoulders jerking in an absent shrug. "You look lonely sometimes. Like Ivan did back in school. Dragging him into stuff worked... sort of. I figured I'd try it with you." Another shrug and then the grin comes back, even more brilliant than before. "Now come on. You can't tell me you have something more important to do than eat junk food and play overpriced carnival games. I'll win you a stuffed animal. Chicks dig that sort of thing, right?"
"Spare me. Maybe if you're lucky I'll win you something."
Edward simply gives her arm another gentle tug and this time she follows.