[fic] Comfort (Luke/Jessica; PG-13)
Title: Comfort
Author: strawberispring
Recipient: handyhunter
Prompt: "'you, me and all that stuff we're so scared of'; working out their relationship"
Word Count: 1908
Characters: Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Danny Rand, Misty Knight
Warnings: A lot of swearing since, well, it's Jessica.
Summary: Most people associated the smell of bread baking or the promising bubble of a pot with home but, for her, it was the sweet, spicy smell of takeaway Chinese food.
--
The sharp, sweet smell of Chinese food hit her nose the moment she opened the door. Jessica stepped into the apartment and unwound the scarf from her neck, letting the savory greeting linger in her nostrils with each breath. She found the smell comforting. Most people associated the smell of bread baking or the promising bubble of a pot with home but, for her, it was the sweet, spicy smell of takeaway Chinese food.
She found them in the kitchen. Luke held a white takeout container in one hand, using chopsticks to pry packed grains of rice free. Both the container and the chopsticks were dwarfed, almost child-sized. Across the table, Danny picked water chestnuts out of his dish of nondescript vegetables and sauce-covered chicken. Neither had heard her come in.
Unable to help it, Jessica often felt a sort of jealousy for Danny. She didn’t quite understand it but it was always there-a green-eyed monster lurking just under the surface. It wasn’t a romantic sort of jealousy. She didn’t think Luke was going to clear off in favor of Danny. It was the jealousy of the ease they had with one another. The years of comradery that gave them a bond closer than brothers. Luke could tell Danny more than he could tell her. That, at least, made a semblance of sense. If Luke was having a problem with her-which he so clearly was-he wouldn’t turn to her for help. He’d turn to the person he’d give his life for. His partner. His brother. Danny.
“…Thinking Danny Jr. if it’s a boy,” the blond was saying with a laugh. A bit of cabbage was stuck between his front teeth.
“That’s a damn stupid name, Rand,” Luke replied.
They still hadn’t noticed her.
“Yeah. But I don’t want to name him anything dumb…y’know, like Lucas.”
“Right in the heart.”
A third voice came from another room. Sharp and full of attitude.
“You don’t know if it’s gonna be a boy, sugar.”
Misty walked into the kitchen, her hands over her stomach. She was barely showing but she had that glow of motherhood. She leaned over Danny’s chair and kissed his cheek. When she glanced up, she met eyes with Jessica. It was the first time since she had come in that anyone had noticed her. Oftentimes-moreso when Colleen was there, too-she felt like a fifth wheel, an outsider. The four of them had a long, involved history and she was just a newcomer. Jessica was along for the ride.
“Hey, Jess.”
Both men looked up, startled by her sudden entry.
“Nice fucking senses, Fist,” Jessica said, trying not to let her embarrassment show. “I’ve been standing here for five fucking minutes.”
Without missing a beat, Danny gestured to the food in front of him on the table.
“MSG dulls my chi,” he replied and then grinned, still showing off that piece of cabbage. “That rhymes.”
Misty kissed the top of his head. “Should make it a song, sugar.”
Luke didn’t respond to them. He was staring at Jessica in that bald-faced way of his that made her uneasy. It was like he could see through her. Through her skin, muscles, guts, bones…right to the core.
On the other side of that small table, Misty slipped her arms down Danny’s chest and rested her chin on the top of his head. Again, jealousy coiled around Jessica’s stomach and clenched it. Misty and Danny had an easy relationship. Despite her ribbings, their eyes shone only for each other. The word “soul-mates” was tossed around so much-in personal ads and on those fucking television adverts for internet dating sites. The term had lost a lot of ground but she felt that Danny and Misty were soul-mates. No matter where one went, the other would find them. She wasn’t sure of the same about her and Luke.
Danny picked up another sliver of chicken with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth. With it full, he tipped his head back and kissed Misty. She pulled back and lightly slapped her hand on his chest.
“Nasty.”
“You love it.”
“Doesn’t make it any less nasty.”
Luke still hadn’t spoken since she had stepped into the kitchen. Misty noticed the tension first and pulled Danny to his feet.
“Come on, Mr. Rand,” she intoned. “Mama’s tired.”
They left, Danny making a grab for his chicken and both of them pushing past Jessica and out the door. It closed with a muted click and the sound seemed to echo in the apartment. Even in the other room, Dani didn’t make a peep.
“Hey,” she said, lifting her hand and feeling awkward.
Luke nodded and put his food down.
“You alright?” she pressed.
“Got no problems. You?” Luke artfully lifted a brow.
“Peachy fucking keen,” she replied and then bit her lips, not liking how sharp her tone was.
“You’re jealous.”
The Stare. Always did it. It bugged the shit out of her. She couldn’t pull punches with Luke and, honestly, he couldn’t with her either. It was something that terrified her about their relationship. The inability to hide. The anger and fear that resulted when they thought one of them was. The phrase “Skrull-baby” floated in her mind with no provocation.
“Of what? The Chinese food?” Jessica walked to the recently vacated chair and sat. It was still warm.
“Danny and Misty,” he replied bluntly. “I saw the look you were giving them. They ain’t a romantic movie, y’know. Got problems just like everyone else.”
“Never said they were.”
He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. The wood groaned slightly and the table shifted positions.
“You got that sparkle in your eye.”
“My eyes don’t fucking sparkle.”
“Not that way. When you were looking at them. Like, ‘gee, can’t my life be like that?’ or some shit. They ain’t perfect and they’d be the first ones to tell you that.”
Jessica could have been rude. She could have lifted her nose and scoffed and asked him how in the hell he’d know but she didn’t. She didn’t want to make it a whole thing, for one, but she also knew that Luke just knew. They all shared that type of bond. The bond of telling everyone everything without needing penetrating stares.
“They seem it,” she pointed out.
“Now, yeah. They’re back on track. They were on-off for a while. Danny being off doing God knows what and Misty doing her bail bond thing. When Danny was dead for a while-”
“He died?” Jessica widened her eyes in shock.
Luke shook his head. “It was a clone or some shit. I dunno. I think Skrulls were involved.”
“Fucking Skrulls.”
At that, he cracked a smile.
“I hear ya.”
Luke laced his fingers and stretched his arms up over his head. Jessica found herself staring at the strain of his muscles through his thin t-shirt and idly wondered how a man of such bulk and strength could be so gentle when he held Dani or even when he held her.
“So after he came back?”
Luke brought his arms down and shrugged. “They had a few reunions but nothing that lasted ‘til recently. Hell, they were on opposite sides of that damn Civil War.”
Without warning, a picture darted across Jessica’s mind’s eye of Danny and Misty in Civil War uniforms of opposing colors, glaring each other down.
“But they got past it.”
“They’re adults,” Luke replied.
The air around them grew pregnant with tension. Luke hadn’t perhaps meant it that way but Jessica’s overactive, hypersensitive mind had taken that as a way of saying that they weren’t adults. That Danny and Misty were because they were so good together but she and Luke had so many insecurities and phobias holding them down. Holding them back.
“I’ll be over here in the kiddie pool, then,” she stated dourly.
Luke frowned and his eyebrows settled down over his eyes. They scrutinized her momentarily. It wasn’t quite The Stare (which bore capitalization) but it was a lesser form-a derivative. It had a weaker but still quite potent effect on her.
“Not saying we ain’t, Jess.”
She sighed and laid her hands flat on the table.
“I know,” she said to the back of her hands. “I know. But sometimes it feels like-”
Jessica was silenced by Luke’s hand coming down on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she pulled her gaze away from her hands to look into his eyes.
“Look around us,” he said. “Look at our friends’ relationships. Outside Danny and Misty…are any of them going well?”
“Clint and Bobbi-”
He snorted.
“Yeah, after she came back from the dead. Right before they were gonna get a divorce. Next.”
She wracked her brain but found herself unable to think of another stable couple in their direct circle of friends.
“Alright,” she conceded. “What’s your point?”
Luke shook his head as if the meaning was obvious and she was missing it. “Some PI you are,” the head shake seemed to say.
“Even if we feel immature-or if you do ‘cause I’m just fine-we’re still miles ahead of our friends.”
She considered his words.
“You’re fine?” she said finally, arching a brow.
He nodded. “Yeah. This is the most peace I’ve had my whole damn life. Kid, wife, family. Life’s good right now.”
Jessica heaved a labored sigh. His words had a note of finality to them. As if his word was law and if he said life was good than, fuck it all, life was grand. Perhaps Luke didn’t intend it but it sure felt that way.
“Yeah,” she intoned. “Life’s fan-fucking-tastic. Let’s go skip through the park singing about how the hills are fucking alive.”
Luke’s brow furrowed.
“Ain’t a bad idea. I’ll borrow Danny’s kungfu booties and we’ll make a day of it.” The sarcasm dripped heavily on his words more thickly than even hers.
Jessica sighed again, the puff of air nearly slicing through the tension in the kitchen. She considered leaving and picking up Dani and getting on with being a mommy. She could easily walk away from this…confrontation? Argument? She had no fucking clue. That was the recurring problem. There was always an atmosphere. A tension. It wasn’t always there but once it had been let in, it wasn’t big on leaving.
“So you’re pissed at me,” she said finally.
“I wasn’t before but I am a little now, yeah.”
“And why is that?”
He laced his fingers and brought his hands behind his head.
“Because you have to make everything so goddamn difficult.”
“I do?” Jessica asked, feeling her hackles rise yet again.
“Yeah. You can’t let your life be simple-be good-for once in your life. You’ve always got to try and fuck it up. You’re lucky I love you, Jess. You’re lucky I love you and I love Dani. Or else I’d be out of here because, damn, you give me a headache sometimes.”
Jessica smirked. “Aw, you love me.”
“I also said you gave me a headache.”
“A headache of love.”
“Whatever, Jess.”
She exhaled, feeling the tension begin to fade and the comforting feeling-more comforting than the smell of Chinese food-of their constant ribbing back and forth was back. It got like this. This anxiety. It’d never go away but it could be quelled. And that was, she figured, okay for now.
Author: strawberispring
Recipient: handyhunter
Prompt: "'you, me and all that stuff we're so scared of'; working out their relationship"
Word Count: 1908
Characters: Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Danny Rand, Misty Knight
Warnings: A lot of swearing since, well, it's Jessica.
Summary: Most people associated the smell of bread baking or the promising bubble of a pot with home but, for her, it was the sweet, spicy smell of takeaway Chinese food.
--
The sharp, sweet smell of Chinese food hit her nose the moment she opened the door. Jessica stepped into the apartment and unwound the scarf from her neck, letting the savory greeting linger in her nostrils with each breath. She found the smell comforting. Most people associated the smell of bread baking or the promising bubble of a pot with home but, for her, it was the sweet, spicy smell of takeaway Chinese food.
She found them in the kitchen. Luke held a white takeout container in one hand, using chopsticks to pry packed grains of rice free. Both the container and the chopsticks were dwarfed, almost child-sized. Across the table, Danny picked water chestnuts out of his dish of nondescript vegetables and sauce-covered chicken. Neither had heard her come in.
Unable to help it, Jessica often felt a sort of jealousy for Danny. She didn’t quite understand it but it was always there-a green-eyed monster lurking just under the surface. It wasn’t a romantic sort of jealousy. She didn’t think Luke was going to clear off in favor of Danny. It was the jealousy of the ease they had with one another. The years of comradery that gave them a bond closer than brothers. Luke could tell Danny more than he could tell her. That, at least, made a semblance of sense. If Luke was having a problem with her-which he so clearly was-he wouldn’t turn to her for help. He’d turn to the person he’d give his life for. His partner. His brother. Danny.
“…Thinking Danny Jr. if it’s a boy,” the blond was saying with a laugh. A bit of cabbage was stuck between his front teeth.
“That’s a damn stupid name, Rand,” Luke replied.
They still hadn’t noticed her.
“Yeah. But I don’t want to name him anything dumb…y’know, like Lucas.”
“Right in the heart.”
A third voice came from another room. Sharp and full of attitude.
“You don’t know if it’s gonna be a boy, sugar.”
Misty walked into the kitchen, her hands over her stomach. She was barely showing but she had that glow of motherhood. She leaned over Danny’s chair and kissed his cheek. When she glanced up, she met eyes with Jessica. It was the first time since she had come in that anyone had noticed her. Oftentimes-moreso when Colleen was there, too-she felt like a fifth wheel, an outsider. The four of them had a long, involved history and she was just a newcomer. Jessica was along for the ride.
“Hey, Jess.”
Both men looked up, startled by her sudden entry.
“Nice fucking senses, Fist,” Jessica said, trying not to let her embarrassment show. “I’ve been standing here for five fucking minutes.”
Without missing a beat, Danny gestured to the food in front of him on the table.
“MSG dulls my chi,” he replied and then grinned, still showing off that piece of cabbage. “That rhymes.”
Misty kissed the top of his head. “Should make it a song, sugar.”
Luke didn’t respond to them. He was staring at Jessica in that bald-faced way of his that made her uneasy. It was like he could see through her. Through her skin, muscles, guts, bones…right to the core.
On the other side of that small table, Misty slipped her arms down Danny’s chest and rested her chin on the top of his head. Again, jealousy coiled around Jessica’s stomach and clenched it. Misty and Danny had an easy relationship. Despite her ribbings, their eyes shone only for each other. The word “soul-mates” was tossed around so much-in personal ads and on those fucking television adverts for internet dating sites. The term had lost a lot of ground but she felt that Danny and Misty were soul-mates. No matter where one went, the other would find them. She wasn’t sure of the same about her and Luke.
Danny picked up another sliver of chicken with his chopsticks and popped it into his mouth. With it full, he tipped his head back and kissed Misty. She pulled back and lightly slapped her hand on his chest.
“Nasty.”
“You love it.”
“Doesn’t make it any less nasty.”
Luke still hadn’t spoken since she had stepped into the kitchen. Misty noticed the tension first and pulled Danny to his feet.
“Come on, Mr. Rand,” she intoned. “Mama’s tired.”
They left, Danny making a grab for his chicken and both of them pushing past Jessica and out the door. It closed with a muted click and the sound seemed to echo in the apartment. Even in the other room, Dani didn’t make a peep.
“Hey,” she said, lifting her hand and feeling awkward.
Luke nodded and put his food down.
“You alright?” she pressed.
“Got no problems. You?” Luke artfully lifted a brow.
“Peachy fucking keen,” she replied and then bit her lips, not liking how sharp her tone was.
“You’re jealous.”
The Stare. Always did it. It bugged the shit out of her. She couldn’t pull punches with Luke and, honestly, he couldn’t with her either. It was something that terrified her about their relationship. The inability to hide. The anger and fear that resulted when they thought one of them was. The phrase “Skrull-baby” floated in her mind with no provocation.
“Of what? The Chinese food?” Jessica walked to the recently vacated chair and sat. It was still warm.
“Danny and Misty,” he replied bluntly. “I saw the look you were giving them. They ain’t a romantic movie, y’know. Got problems just like everyone else.”
“Never said they were.”
He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table. The wood groaned slightly and the table shifted positions.
“You got that sparkle in your eye.”
“My eyes don’t fucking sparkle.”
“Not that way. When you were looking at them. Like, ‘gee, can’t my life be like that?’ or some shit. They ain’t perfect and they’d be the first ones to tell you that.”
Jessica could have been rude. She could have lifted her nose and scoffed and asked him how in the hell he’d know but she didn’t. She didn’t want to make it a whole thing, for one, but she also knew that Luke just knew. They all shared that type of bond. The bond of telling everyone everything without needing penetrating stares.
“They seem it,” she pointed out.
“Now, yeah. They’re back on track. They were on-off for a while. Danny being off doing God knows what and Misty doing her bail bond thing. When Danny was dead for a while-”
“He died?” Jessica widened her eyes in shock.
Luke shook his head. “It was a clone or some shit. I dunno. I think Skrulls were involved.”
“Fucking Skrulls.”
At that, he cracked a smile.
“I hear ya.”
Luke laced his fingers and stretched his arms up over his head. Jessica found herself staring at the strain of his muscles through his thin t-shirt and idly wondered how a man of such bulk and strength could be so gentle when he held Dani or even when he held her.
“So after he came back?”
Luke brought his arms down and shrugged. “They had a few reunions but nothing that lasted ‘til recently. Hell, they were on opposite sides of that damn Civil War.”
Without warning, a picture darted across Jessica’s mind’s eye of Danny and Misty in Civil War uniforms of opposing colors, glaring each other down.
“But they got past it.”
“They’re adults,” Luke replied.
The air around them grew pregnant with tension. Luke hadn’t perhaps meant it that way but Jessica’s overactive, hypersensitive mind had taken that as a way of saying that they weren’t adults. That Danny and Misty were because they were so good together but she and Luke had so many insecurities and phobias holding them down. Holding them back.
“I’ll be over here in the kiddie pool, then,” she stated dourly.
Luke frowned and his eyebrows settled down over his eyes. They scrutinized her momentarily. It wasn’t quite The Stare (which bore capitalization) but it was a lesser form-a derivative. It had a weaker but still quite potent effect on her.
“Not saying we ain’t, Jess.”
She sighed and laid her hands flat on the table.
“I know,” she said to the back of her hands. “I know. But sometimes it feels like-”
Jessica was silenced by Luke’s hand coming down on her shoulder. Reluctantly, she pulled her gaze away from her hands to look into his eyes.
“Look around us,” he said. “Look at our friends’ relationships. Outside Danny and Misty…are any of them going well?”
“Clint and Bobbi-”
He snorted.
“Yeah, after she came back from the dead. Right before they were gonna get a divorce. Next.”
She wracked her brain but found herself unable to think of another stable couple in their direct circle of friends.
“Alright,” she conceded. “What’s your point?”
Luke shook his head as if the meaning was obvious and she was missing it. “Some PI you are,” the head shake seemed to say.
“Even if we feel immature-or if you do ‘cause I’m just fine-we’re still miles ahead of our friends.”
She considered his words.
“You’re fine?” she said finally, arching a brow.
He nodded. “Yeah. This is the most peace I’ve had my whole damn life. Kid, wife, family. Life’s good right now.”
Jessica heaved a labored sigh. His words had a note of finality to them. As if his word was law and if he said life was good than, fuck it all, life was grand. Perhaps Luke didn’t intend it but it sure felt that way.
“Yeah,” she intoned. “Life’s fan-fucking-tastic. Let’s go skip through the park singing about how the hills are fucking alive.”
Luke’s brow furrowed.
“Ain’t a bad idea. I’ll borrow Danny’s kungfu booties and we’ll make a day of it.” The sarcasm dripped heavily on his words more thickly than even hers.
Jessica sighed again, the puff of air nearly slicing through the tension in the kitchen. She considered leaving and picking up Dani and getting on with being a mommy. She could easily walk away from this…confrontation? Argument? She had no fucking clue. That was the recurring problem. There was always an atmosphere. A tension. It wasn’t always there but once it had been let in, it wasn’t big on leaving.
“So you’re pissed at me,” she said finally.
“I wasn’t before but I am a little now, yeah.”
“And why is that?”
He laced his fingers and brought his hands behind his head.
“Because you have to make everything so goddamn difficult.”
“I do?” Jessica asked, feeling her hackles rise yet again.
“Yeah. You can’t let your life be simple-be good-for once in your life. You’ve always got to try and fuck it up. You’re lucky I love you, Jess. You’re lucky I love you and I love Dani. Or else I’d be out of here because, damn, you give me a headache sometimes.”
Jessica smirked. “Aw, you love me.”
“I also said you gave me a headache.”
“A headache of love.”
“Whatever, Jess.”
She exhaled, feeling the tension begin to fade and the comforting feeling-more comforting than the smell of Chinese food-of their constant ribbing back and forth was back. It got like this. This anxiety. It’d never go away but it could be quelled. And that was, she figured, okay for now.