Chapter Text
Amy was nervous. She tried to hide it as the two of us sat, sipping on orange juice and picking at the last remnants of breakfast. Dad cleaned the kitchen and cookware while Mom flipped through the day’s paper. Amy probably would have done a good job at hiding it from anyone else, even our parents, but it was pointless with me .
I could tell by the way amber eyes flicked between Mom and I, the way her lips parted ever so softly as if to speak only to stop, the way freckled cheeks shifted as she bit the inside of her mouth, the way her fingers rapped over soft thighs. All of it indicated she had something she had to tell us, to say to us, and was stressing over it hard .
But what exactly was it? Amy and anxiety were not an exactly uncommon combination, unfortunately, so it could be a reaction to a literal plethora of things, big or small.
The most damning option was, thankfully, already out of the question. She would have confronted me first rather than blow it up to the whole family because Amy was just too nice for that, and she’d be looking at me with far more than just nervousness. Was it her grades? I know they haven’t been exactly stellar, and Mom had gotten on her case hard, so if some test had come back poorly, I could see why she’d get nervous… But why look at me then? I certainly tried to encourage her to do better. I wanted her to get into a good college, but I never got on her about it like Mom did.
I’d hoped it wasn’t yet another request to up her hours at the hospital, to put even more of a self-imposed burden on herself when she already was the greatest hero in the city… but luckily, that one was also off the table. She’d already asked to up her hours at this week’s team meeting and had gotten thoroughly rebuffed. It’d be at least one or two months until she openly asked the team about it again.
Reasons continued to flash through my mind, only to be summarily picked apart. I almost considered just asking her if she was okay rather than keeping her in this hellish limbo, but no, that would be for my sake more than Amy’s; she needed her time to work her way for stuff, and breaching that would only leave her flat-footed and panicking.
Amy eventually found her courage, nodding to herself ever so slightly before clearing her throat, “I um… Sorry,” She withered at the now undivided attention she held before taking a deep breath, her words practically tumbling over one another. “I’m dating Flechette, Lily, s-she’s my Girlfriend now.”
I immediately choked on my orange juice, sputtering and coughing, waving off my sister, who’d been ready to launch herself to my side, and the concern of my parents with a croak of, “Wrong pipe. I’m fine.”
I was, in fact, very much not fine because where in the flying fuck had this come from? Flechette had only moved into Brockton two weeks ago, and I was sure I’d been the only one in the family who’d met her yet. She’d gone out on an introductory patrol, and I’d talked to her briefly. Officially it was to reaffirm New Wave’s solidarity with the Protectorate, but I also did it because new heroes always interested me, and frankly, I just liked meeting people.
So when the hell did my introverted sister even find the time to get to even know her, let alone date her and kiss her and-!?
Mom, thankfully, seemed to be on the same wavelength as I was, “The girl only just transferred in. You barely know her, and yet you’re already together?”
She’d raised an appraising eyebrow like always she did whenever she was sure we’d screwed up but was holding back final judgment until she’d let us provide some explanation as to our reasoning.
For once, however, Amy didn’t flinch or verbally stumble, “We met during the event in New York, started messaging one another, and well, she had to transfer after some local villain in NYC who had it out for her put her in the hospital, so she decided to request it be Brockton.”
I remembered that. It was the event Legend held in New York to celebrate the anniversary of the Marriage Equality Act. Amy had been invited to go, and she went with Aunt Sarah, who’d played chaperone and team representative.
What I wanted to know was why she hadn’t told me . Outside my secret and the things it polluted , I shared everything with her, so would she hide this? What had I done-
“Amelia Claire Dallon.” Mom’s tone was sharp, “Do not tell me you cajoled this young woman into making such a major life decision as this, especially when she’s an Asian-American lesbian, and this is Brockton Bay .”
Amy’s eyes were wide, lips opening and closing to try and find some footing after she’d been verbally swept off her feet. I could tell the accusation had caught her off guard, genuinely hurt her, and I couldn’t help but grimace.
I looked to Dad, hoping to see if he would offer anything , but beyond looking like he wanted to interject, there was nothing but silence from him. As per usual, it ended up being up to me.
“Mom,” I interjected, “Amy’s always been cautious, and I don’t think it’s unreasonable that Flechette would want to go to a place where she has at least one friend.”
She passed me a thankful smile, and despite the subject matter of the conversation, I couldn’t help but pass a grin of my own. Making Amy happy made me happy, after all.
Amy’d finally regained her mental footing, jumping off where I left off, “Lily was the one who broached the idea to transfer here, and the first thing I did when she brought it up was to brief her on everything she’d be dealing with. She’s my friend, and I don’t want her to get hurt. I’m just bringing it up now because we were planning on a date, and I knew you’d want to know…”
“You should have told us beforehand, and we will be discussing this with the team along with the proper way to go about this in the future…” Mom’s tone softened ever so slightly, “But I'm glad you’re clearly being more responsible about it this time around.”
I could see the tension slowly seep away from Amy, soft lips shifting into a smile at having won Mom over. Even if there would be plenty more talks, interrogations, and nagging to be had, it was still ultimately a blessing from Mom that, for now at least, she had the go-ahead.
“Well,” Dad said, clearing his voice and finally entering the conversation, “As long as she makes you happy, I’m happy, Amy-bear.”
“Dad, please don’t call me that when she comes over for dinner.” The look she gave was positively mortified, and I couldn’t help but empathize, even if I may have also had to suppress a laugh.
“We will need to make plans for you to bring her over sometime,-” Mom started, and the conversation quickly veered into the same talk Mom gave to me back when I’d begun seeing Dean about the various things to keep in mind when it came to dating, specifically dating capes in the Protectorate, but with an added emphasis on safety given Amy’s status.
It was one of the few times I agreed with Mom’s heightened nagging of my sister. Outside my membership with New Wave, I was pretty inoffensive and had my forcefield, strength, and flight to protect me. Amy, meanwhile, was not only a beacon of tolerance and goodness but also so delicate , so vulnerable to any of the scum that blighted this city deciding they’d want to crush the hope she brought to everyone else.
I gave Amy a small thumbs up, and I received a slight nod of the head and a smile in return before I raced up to my room. I’d give Amy a proper congratulations later when she wasn’t getting micromanaged by Mom, when I was more up to it, and when my horrid jealousy wouldn’t fucking sabotage me because fuck me, this came out of nowhere!
Goddamnit, and I’d liked Flechette too! Our conversation hadn’t been too long and had partially been for the cameras, but I could tell she was professional and really took the cape stuff seriously like I did, and I’d been looking forward to maybe getting to know her better, and now it would be all weird and-
I shook my head. Think positive, Victoria! She seemed like a good person after all and Dean so far had only kind things to say, though I would definitely bug him for more information. It wouldn’t be nearly as weird as the other times I’d done so, given he would already know her and probably seen her talk about Amy rather than me bugging him to essentially snoop on some random girl he hadn’t even met to vet them…
But if it were some ‘random girl,’ I’d have time to prepare time because Amy had always told me when she was interested in someone, she’d never just sprung that she was dating onto me, sowhy was this different? What had I done wrong? Why hadn’t she-!?
I stopped my frantic pacing as a familiar soft three knocks came from the door, courteous and gentle just like she always- No, I couldn’t be in that headspace right now when she was coming to talk!
“Everything good, Ames?” I called out, quickly straightening my hair and flattening any imperfections from the t-shirt I’d chosen to wear today.
“Can we talk, Vicky?” Before I asked for a few minutes the next words out of her mouth shot it down, “It’s important, I mean, I can give you however much time but-“
“I’m good Ames, I’ll let you in.” I said, going to unlock the door. Always trying to accommodate, to be nice, even when it was clear it was super dire.
I held the door open, closing and locking it behind us, and my guts squirmed as I watched her go to my bed, sitting down and awkwardly patting beside her. An imitation of what I did whenever there was something bothering her.
I sat down beside her, hoping she’d buy the smile I’d contorted my face into, even as the pit of dread within me continued to grow. Was this it? We were alone, after all. Did she know and was only now using the opportunity, having baited out a reaction from me earlier, affirming her worst fears about me while not alerting me via a more obvious attempt to read me with her power? Was she going to confirm it with her power now that she had me alone, I didn’t know I-
“So ummm…” she paused, hands clenching together before she continued, “I know you’re feeling bad because I didn’t tell you about Lily for so long, and I’m really, really sorry I didn’t tell you sooner, but I wanted to talk to you and just… explain why I didn’t say anything?”
I stared into beautiful amber eyes even as I quickly readjusted to the fact this situation wasn’t an impending trainwreck but merely a car crash that could turn into a trainwreck if the car careened onto the tracks at just the wrong moment.
“I’m fine, Amy, seriously.” I kept my easy smile, giving her a false shrug to sell that this was no big deal and that we really, really didn’t need to talk about it.
The soft, hopeful smile on her face dropped into a frown, “Victoria, please don’t lie to me. Down there, you looked like you just saw someone kick a puppy after I broke the news.”
I bit my lip, averting my eyes from her as I looked away. What could I even think when our entire relationship was only kept together because of one big lie and all the little ones that helped keep it upright?
I breathed, looking back at her, “I’m sorry, Ames, I just… didn’t want to spoil your big announcement, and it’s totally within your rights to keep stuff like that from me. You shouldn’t ever apologize for that.”
Even if it did hurt that she didn’t want to tell me, that she’d felt the need to hide it from me, that she felt like she couldn’t be honest with me. Even when I immediately wanted to get into every single detail about what made this new girl tick and how she’d gotten so close to my sister without me fucking knowing!
“Thanks, Victoria, you haven’t spoiled anything. I…” She sighed, “I mean, I honestly kinda expected this to happen about as much as I expected Mom to interrogate me?”
“What do you mean?” I said, leaning ever so closer.
“What I mean is…” She crossed her arms, shifting away from mine, “Anytime I’ve ever expressed even the slightest bit of interest in someone or god forbid they express interest in me , you get really, really, overprotective.”
I raised a singular eyebrow. “Yes? There are too many people out there who’d want to take advantage of you, and I also just want to make sure they’re up to the task of being your girlfriend.”
She huffed , “And that’s what I mean . Yes, me and Alex may not have been the best, but I was the one causing the issues. She couldn't handle the cape and celeb stuff, and also, we were each other's first girlfriends, yet you and Mom both think she was some delinquent!”
I fired back, glaring, “I was totally supportive of the two of you then, and I remember how sad you were when it didn’t work out! I'm just making sure any new girlfriends know what they’re getting into!”
Amy, for her part, gave me an unimpressed look. “And instead, you give the ‘do you know what a responsibility it is to date Panacea?’ speech to anyone I have a shred of interest in.” Her tone raised just a pitch into outright frustration. “That’s a part of why I waited so long to tell you about Lily. Don’t tell me you wouldn’t have immediately messaged her to give her the rundown and an interrogation!”
I went to speak before I immediately choked on my words because… she wasn't wrong. I absolutely would have messaged Flechette on PHO to check her over and let her realize what she might be getting into…
I slumped, looking away from my sister, as the oh-so-familiar feeling of shame coiled its way around my heart; I’d only just wanted to make sure she was okay, to make sure she wouldn't get hurt again like the first time…
When Amy had first announced she was gay and she’d had interest in some girl from school, it had only been a few months since I’d triggered, and I was still grappling with my career as Glory Girl taking off alongside finding out that about myself. Hearing that from Amy on top of everything else was a cruel joke, like someone dangling a forbidden fruit right in front of my face.
I didn’t want to inadvertently sabotage them out of some latent, sick jealousy, so I’d mostly separated myself from the situation entirely. Instead, I focused on keeping her and her new girlfriend safe from the all too real danger of an Empire wannabe going after them, all the while giving the two of them my unconditional support. I was a biased party and thus knew I shouldn't comment… which left me blindsided when the issues came from inside the relationship.
At the time, I hadn’t realized what the hell had gone wrong other than that it was clearly Alex’s fault because, after all, it was Amy. It was only after some reflection I realized, ultimately, that Amy was hard to date. Not because there was anything wrong with her, of course. It was just that Alex and every other girl Amy had shown interest in, despite being perfectly fine people on their own, failed by simple virtue of not being good enough.
Even beyond the various issues of dating a local celebrity and the very real target it brought, Amy simply gave so much of herself into her work, into making literal miracles happen. She needed someone who could love her unconditionally while also understanding she couldn’t always return it. Someone who loved her like I did.
“Hey, I’m not mad or anything. I just wanted to explain why I waited so long to tell you.” I felt myself being pulled into a hug, and I leaned into it, luxuriating in the contact and admission of trust even as I closed my eyes, taking deep, slow breaths to try and center myself, to ensure I only enjoyed this as a sister should.
Eventually, I slowly pulled away, looking my sister in the eyes. “She makes you happy, that she’d be good for you?”
“She does, and she already has been.”
There wasn’t a hint of doubt in her face or tone, not a single hint of that typical Amy hesitance when it came to far, far too many things. Instead, there was only a surety born from genuine, honest truth.
“Good. No one deserves that more than you, and” I gave her my best Glory Girl smile. “If you need help getting ready for your dates, relationship advice, or anything else, I’ll be more than happy to help.”
As much as it rankled that horrid, jealous part of me, when the only realistic options were Amy being happy with someone else or being alone, I’d pick the former every time.
“Thanks… I’m glad you’re giving her a chance and I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up becoming friends. You and Lily have a lot more in common than me and Dean, and well, me and Dean are friends now, so…” She trailed off.
I nodded. She wasn’t wrong after all. Despite its sanitized nature, I enjoyed our conversation, and having yet another person to talk shop with who took being a hero so seriously was never a bad thing.
Plus, being friends with the person who was dating my sister rather than keeping them at arms length would be the better option as well. I could catch any potential relationship issues before they exploded, actually help this time around, spot any red flags with Lily…
I couldn’t help but smile. Given how I thought this talk would go, I was more than pleasantly surprised.
“Is there anything else you wanted to ask about, or are you cool with just hanging out for a bit before I get on my homework for this weekend?”
Coming directly off an emotionally charged conversation wasn’t exactly conducive to focusing on calculus after all.
“I…” She bit her lip for a second before shaking her head, “I’m good,” She lied in that way I just knew it meant she wanted to ask for something but wouldn’t because in her mind, it would be some sort of grand imposition on me.
I rolled my eyes but let her have her silence and stew on it for a few seconds before talking, and for my patience, all I got out of her was a crossing of her arms and her lips pursing tight.
I sighed, “I asked if you wanted to talk about anything else and told you I’m more than happy to help; you don’t need to feel guilty for taking me up on the offer I made you.”
Her lips opened. And closed. All the while, the space between my sister’s freckles turned a delectable red, and I couldn’t help but be reminded of a strawberry, a comparison not helped by the shampoo she’d taken to wearing recently.
I knew my sister far too well for her to pull that kind of evasiveness on me, and yet she still got flustered every time I caught her out on it!
“I-I was just-“ She took a breath before continuing, “I… wanted to ask if you and Dean would be cool with a double date? People are gonna wag their tongues when I go out with her out in public for the first time, and it’ll be easier for me and her and take some of that attention and first real date jitters from me, and you and her can meet-“
“Amy,” my voice cut through her half-baked burbling, and I rested a very light hand on her shoulder, “I’ll need to ask Dean, but I’m more than sure he’ll be fine with it.”
A double date with my sister…
And to think I thought this conversation had ended well.