Chapter Text
'Uh-Oh.... Oh no.' You think as you rub your aching head. Dust and clutter was scattered all around your apartment. You stand up and try to regain your balance. Your ears are ringing and your head keeps thumping. You soon realize the thumping noises aren't all coming from your head, as the thumping noises continue you hobble your way over to the door just as the thumping turns into banging.
"I'm coming." You say as you groan. "HURRY UP [Name]! Are you alright!?" you hear from the other side of the door and you open it with your left hand as your right rubs your eyes. "Y-Yeah, thank you for asking Mrs. Rivers." You say in slight shock as your next door neighbor asks you while she holds her cat with her left hand and her right hand is placed on her hip.
"Good deary... After I heard that loud explosion, I thought you might have died. I called the cops and they said they'd be here any minute with an ambulance." She says with a light voice and you just stare at her in confusion. "R-Really? You were worried about me?" You say in slight disbelief while you rub your aching head. "OF COURSE NOT YOU IDIOT! I CALLED THE COPS SAYING YOU WERE CAUSING A RUCKUS! THEY'LL BE HERE READY TO TOW YOUR ASS TO PRISON! YA HEAR ME?" She yells at the top of her lungs as she waves a fist at you and begins stomping down the hall back to her room.
You glare at the Fifty-something year old as she begins cackling her way down the hall. "Old bitch will probably get her cooky ass towed by the men with pretty jackets that make you hug yourself if she keeps acting like the crazy cat lady that she is." You say pinching the bridge of your nose and close the door. After locking it you glance around the destroyed room.
With a heavy sigh you make your way to the cleaning closet and take out a broom, large trash bags and rubber gloves. You begin sweeping the area that once used to be the living room/dining room. You put the gloves on while prepping a large bag and begin tossing in the small remains of porcelain vases and figurines that were once gifts from your front door neighbor. 'Oh crap, this sucks. I think I over did it this time... I hope the other teleporter didn't fuck up Lisa's house, maybe I should call her after all this mess is fixed up.' You think to yourself as your mind starts wandering over the possible reasons as to why the teleporter exploded this time.
You then hear knocking on the door. "Hello? I'm reporting for Caballero PD, open the door please! This is Sherrif Rodriguez" you hear from the opposite side of the door. You let out a sigh and drop everything you were holding and make your way to the door again.
"Yes?" You say as you open the door looking exhausted. "[Name], ya'know why we're here. Now, this is just a warning... AGAIN, but please tone it down on the explosive experimentation or else we might have to get you evicted. Everyone at the PD has already memorized Mrs. River's number after several years of this." Says your old classmate and your shoulders slump and sigh. "Yeah, yeah. Alright, I promise, this is the last you'll hear of this. Scouts honor." You say rising your right hand and placing your left over your heart. He chuckles at you and shakes his head, "Ya'know, maybe you should really think about headin' out to a bigger city. Some where, where you can get a place that'll let ya explode to your hearts content without givin' your poor neighbors heart attacks." He says as he tilts his cowboy hat back and leans his shoulder on the door frame.
"No, I'd rather help y'all get rid of THE OLD HAG-" You yell back into your apartment knowing full well that the old lady was more likely listening in to the conversation through the wall. Rodriguez chuckles catching your attention. "Y'know, maybe all you need is to get out more rather than stayin' cooped up in here and makin' knick-knacks that only explode. Maybe... I could ya'know, take you out to eat or-" You raise your hand and cut him off. "I'm sorry, I really am, but this isn't just makin' 'knick-knacks' that'll explode just cause I want'em to. I'm trying to make something that'll help make the world a hell lot easier bub." You say scowling at him and he physically flinches once he realized he made a mistake and indirectly insulted you. "So take that as a no?" He says standing up and covering his blush by bringing down his hat. "Sorry [Name], I didn't mean ta. Can we forget that happened?" He asks as he stands back up straight and gives you one of his charming smiles.
"Yeah, don't worry 'bout it." You say letting out a sigh and begin massaging your temples in an attempt to lessen the headache. "Alright, so... what were ya makin' this time?" he says peeking over your head into your damaged living room. "Ugh, a teleporter." You say glancing back at the broken furniture and wince at the mess. You hear him chuckle causing your attention to return to him. "Well, those already exist ya'know." he crosses his arms and quirks a brow as he gives you a charming sideways smile. "Yeah, they exist for the Vishkar Corporation and anyone they work for. They use photon projectors to help them, those are so expensive it's why it's not used nationally and available to the public. I'm trying to make them cheaper and more easily accessable to the public, well more so for the people who really need'em." You say waving him off knowing full well he didn't know what you were talking about.
He rubs his chin and nods, "Alright, well, when ever you're up to it, just gimme a call and I'll pick ya up and take you out." He says with a flushed face and you shake your head. "No, sorry to break it to you like this, but, I've got a long ways to go, so you'll probably only see me when Mrs. Rivers calls you out here." You say and you both chuckle. "Well, Alright, I'll see ya 'round. Take care and please be more careful darlin'." he says with a tip of his hat and you give him a two finger salute. "Alright Rod, see ya around! Take care!" He sends you a final wave and you close the door letting out a heavy sigh.
You take out your phone and check the time, it was a little after 3 pm. Last time you had checked, which was a little before the explosion, it was 12:14 pm, meaning you had been knocked out for nearly four hours since you had been knocked unconscious. Normally people would call an ambulance and the cops, but once you got labeled as the local 'Mad Scientist' as a joke, people became accustomed to your constant explosions, they knew if you had had a serious enough injury you would call an ambulance on your own, but with your neighbors they knew to leave you alone... well all except Mrs. Rivers. She made it her goal to make it as hellish on you as you were making it as hellish on her.
You placed your back on the door and let out a groan. "I think I'm fine, just... a headache. I don't need an ambulance." You say as you keep rubbing your temples. "Good, then maybe you can tell me what is going on and tell me everything I need to know." You hear a deeper voice say from near you. You gasp and look up only to be pinned to the door by a cold object. You are met with the angry glare of a man with shoulder length dark and messy hair. Your eyes are opened wide as you realize it was his hand that was cold and was pining you up to your door. "W-Who are you?!" You ask as he begins squeezing. "That's none of your concern, now tell me where I am and who you are." He begins squeezing your throat more to get his point across. "I don't kno-ow, who y-you are but I w-wont tell you a-anything!", "It's alright, I don't really need you. I'll figure it out on my own." He says and his grip on your neck tightens around your throat causing your panic to rise as your hands clamp down on his robotic wrist.
"H-Hey! W-wait! Ha-ha-ha, you're gonna find out regardless so I might as well tell you, right? Ha ha, see no sweat! I'll talk! Just please don't kill me!" You quickly say in panic and his grip along with his stare softens. "Well?" He asks as he removes his hand from your throat and crosses his arms over his chest but still gives you a hard glare. "U-Umm... W-Well, you're in my apartment?" You say in more of a question as you copy his stance but yours is less threatening and more meek. "WHERE is your apartment?" His glare hardens more. "I-In Caballero, Texas! I swear! Please don't hurt me!" his hand finds it's way to your throat again. "DON'T lie to me! Caballero doesn't EXIST." He says matter of factly and you quickly shake your had, causing your skin to rub roughly on the metal hand's details. "B-But you are here! And it DOES exist! P-Please don't kill me! Please!" You beg him as tears begin falling down your cheeks. He only stares at you but after a few seconds he releases you causing you to quickly drop to the ground.
He quickly takes something out from his back pocket and flips it open while putting it up to his ear. You tear your eyes away from him and begin rubbing your sore neck as you stay on the ground.
"Dammit!" He says in frustration slamming the thing to the ground. "Give me your phone, now." He says placing the device back in his pocket as he stands directly in front of you with his hand outstretched waiting. "Y-Yeah okay." You follow orders and hand him your phone. "The hell is this?" He asks flipping the devise around. " 'Is my phone sir. You asked for it." you say sending him a glare, his attention returns to the device and just as he is about to retort it begins ringing, you know who it is, Lisa. "Answer it, and don't say anything about me, if you do I'll kill you." He says sending your a hard glare as he hands you the phone and you nod. "H-Hello?" You say and quickly clear your throat as the man in front of you kept his glare on you.
"GOD DAMMIT! I think my heater exploded! There is such a huge mess in my Basement! What do I do?! Who do I call! Can you fix it!?" Lisa says in a rushed jumble of words. "LISA! Calm down! Uh... is anyone hurt?" You ask looking down at the ground as panic begins rising in your chest. "What? No! I was at work, Jake is at school and John is still patrolling. You know what we do, why? Should I get out? Is there a gas leak?!" She replies as she begins panicking again. "No! Lisa! Calm down! Just call a plumber if there is water. If not, I'll be there later to fix it if there's no water... I uh... I'll explain later. I think I know what happened." You say wincing knowing if the man in front of you won't kill you, she would. "What? Did you have something to do with this? If you did I'm gon-", " Sorry Lis!!" You say as you quickly click the red button, quickly hanging up on her and place the phone on your forehead making a mental note to take Rodriguez up on his offer to take you out of this little hell hole you call your apartment.
"You done?" You hear the man in front of you ask in irritation. Just as you are about to answer him your phone begins ringing and on the screen you see the picture of Lisa and her family. You quickly send her to voicemail and turn off the phone.
"Y-Yeah, you can kill me now." You handing him the phone and flinch when he swipes the phone from your hand. You close your eyes and wait for...anything. Nothing happens and you peek your eye open and look at him. He's only staring at you in confusion. "What?" he asks turning away from you and walking over to the remains of your couches. "A-Aren't you gonna kill me?" You ask placing a hand on the doorknob ready to run out. "No, but if you run out that door I will. Gotta cover my tracks if I need to hide out." He says turning to look at you over his shoulder, you quickly smile and let out a small laugh as you release the doorknob. "R-Right... um... Mi casa es su casa... I guess."
He kicks away several bits of wood, the remains of the coffee table you had, and he picks up a small metal plate. "Whoa! Don't touch that! I don't know if it'll explode again!" You quickly warn him as your hands are open wide in front of you, he turns to look at you and drops it to the ground without caution. "If it would, why would you warn your captor?" He asks with genuine curiosity. You look at him confused, "Shit...right... dammit, it's in my nature to take care of everyone. Mainly from myself." You say with a sigh. You make your way over to the device not noticing the way he looked at you in complete confusion.
"From yourself?" He asks you as you pick up the plate. "Yeah, well... more like from my inventions. But they come from me, so me." You say turning it over only to take note of how fried the wires appear to be, the machine itself was around two feet in diameter when opened and when closed up compacted it was about a 5x4x4 inch box. You flip it over again to take a look at the lens only to get cut by a piece of metal in your left palm. "Fuck!" You say trying to carefully remove the rubber glove while making your way over to the kitchen. You don't hear the man follow you as you preoccupy yourself as you reach up to the top cabinets to grab your first aid kit.
"Fucking hell!" You curse as your trembling hands fumble with the box. "Let me do it." The man says frustrated with the fact that he would now have to help you. While you hand him the box you rush over to a drawer and grab pair of scissors and begin cutting off the glove carefully. You rinse off the excess blood and he heads off to the small island counter top with stools and sets the kit there. You make your way over and hesitate as he begins setting out the needle and thread to sew your small gash closed. "God, of course with my luck this would happen." You say with a huff and he only glances at you then back to the wound. "Does this happen to you often?" he asks after a moment of silence and he begins holding your left hand down as your trembling begins getting out of hand. "Not the DEEP cuts, just the minor ones that require band-aids, OW!" You yell as he begins sewing it shut, causing you to wiggle in more pain in your seat. Your heart races and you can only manage to hold your arm down with your right so he can help patch you up.
"I'm almost done. Just hold on a little bit longer." He says as calmly as he could, given he still wasn't sure if he should trust you or not. "Gah! J-Just Hurry! Dammit!" You say biting down to on your lower lip as tears begin fogging your vision. You feel a final tug and hear the snipping of scissors then your hand being lifted up, you can feel it swelling up already as the man in front of you begins to wrap it carefully with gauze. "There, done." He says as he begins packing the left over items away into the box and holds it closer to himself. You quirk a brow at him but nod either way. "T-Thanks. I uh... I guess I'll have to start with an explanation, huh?" You tilt your head to your right and he gives you a hardened stare, or was it just a glare? You couldn't care which it was, you were already starting to feel drained with all the pain you've been in today. "Alright, so, like I said, you're in Caballero, Texas. My name is [Na-" You were cut off with small frantic knocks on your door and your name being frantically yelled from the other side. "[Name]? [Name]! Please open up sweety! I just need to know you're safe!" You subconsciously begins to smile as you drop your head and let out a small giggle. "Ugh, I'll be right back, that's my neighbor." you say as you begin getting up, the man's left arm quickly latches onto yours and your eyes snap up to him. "Don't try anything funny." He threatens you and you only roll your eyes. "Why in the hell would I risk the lives of my neighbors? Well, that crazy cat lady next door, I can't say I'm fond of her, but not Mrs. Cortez, she's like my grandma, or maybe more like my momma." You say trying to pry his metal hand away from you, he reluctantly releases yours as you let out a small chuckle.
"Coming Mrs. Cortez!" You yell as your way over to the door quickly. The man stays close at your heels and hides behind you as you open the door to speak to the sweet old lady. "I'm sorry for the noise and the... well, explosion. But I can guarantee you that I'm fine, just a little banged up." You say to the sweet old lady who kept tryint to take a look behind you. "Are you sure you're all right? We heard the explosion a few hours ago, then we got worried we didn't hear you anymore, we called the cops and tried calling the hospital trying to see if anything had happened to you but they all told us the same thing, no one heard from you! I thought that maybe you left with your friend but we called her and she said you were in your apartment. I was so worried that I couldn't hear from you!" She begins pushing you into your apartment causing the man to appear from his hiding place from behind you and the door. Once her eyes land on him and the mess around you, followed by your bandaged left hand she quickly stops in her spot. You cold see the man, now standing to your right, tensed up. "Oh... Um, this is my Neighbor Mrs. Cortez, Mrs. Cortez this is...Um." You turn to the man in question and his eyes widen once you put him in the spot light. "S-Sebastian, I mean Stan?" He says reaching his right hand out from behind him to shake the sweet little old ladies hand. She gives him a big smile as she tenderly takes his hand and gives it a strong squeeze. "My my, Mr. Sebastian Stan. I don't think I've ever seen you around! You must be new here. Where are you from?" You quirk a brow at 'Sebastian Stan' and his jaw tenses a bit. "I'm uh, from New York. Long ways out from home, my dear friend here decided to home me for a little while." He says still keeping his left hand behind his back as he lets the little old lady hold his hand. He was unsure how to react. "Oh, she's a keeper, if you know what I mean." She tells 'Sebastian' as she makes a small attempt at covering her face, with her cupped right hand, from you as she sends him a wink, which you clearly saw and you roll your eyes. You didn't see the questioning glance 'Sebastian' sent you. "Mrs. Cortez... he's not... were not like that." You say catching the little old ladies mischievous smile. "Oh sweetie, I have no idea what you are talking about. But you know, that Sheriff that keeps showing up is another good man you might want to date. You're still young and you are always alone, now that you have a man in your home maybe you could finally start a family, you always look so lonely going in and out of your apartment alone, you know." You begin massaging your temples with your right hand as you fight back the blush that was making an appearance on your face and ears. "Ma'am, it's alright, we're just close friends. I'm here to help her with-" 'Sebastian' makes a motion with his right hand, after carefully releasing it from her frail hands, to the mess that was once your living room and she makes a small gasp. "Oh dear, you need to stop being so reckless, what would your grandparents think?" She says as she begins to scold you.
"Ummm, Yaaaay? Great job?" you say wincing once your eyes land on her glare. "You know darn well they wouldn't be happy about how much danger you keep putting yourself into!" She says wagging a finger at you causing your shoulders to slump and your head to drop to the floor. "Y-Yeah, I know ma'am. Sorry, I promise I'll be more careful. Scouts Honor." You say making your stance again, right hand up and your left hand over your heart. "You know darn well that we know you've never been a scout in your life, you little liar. You're so lucky you have that poor Sheriff wrapped around your little pinky, I can't break it to him that you've never been a scout in your life." You wince again as you feel your cheeks flush. "Geez, c'mon grandma! I don't have him 'Wrapped around my little pinky'! He MAY have a crush on me, but that's it. 'Sides, I don't really like him like that and if we could stop talking about it, that'd be fine. Now, thank you for checking up on me ma'am, but I'm fine, my friend here will help take care of me if anything bad happens so you can rest easy." You say as you begin carefully escorting her out. "D'Oooh, you young punks think your youth gives you the chance to be as reckless as you want. Just wait until you two have kids then you'll see how cautious you should be!" She says scolding you one last time as you begin closing the door, obscuring her view from 'Sebastian'. "Right, but like I said, we are only friends, he's gay. So I'm sorry Mrs. Cortez, but we won't be having kids, he's just waiting for his boyfriend here. Now please, take care, I'm fine and I'll see ya tomorrow. Bye! You say leaning over and giving her a kiss in the cheek. She returns it and tries to peek behind you one last time. "Really? It's a shame, if I was your age I would have jumped his bones in an instant if he was straight!" She says giving you a playful smile. You begin to flush knowing he was hearing everything you two were saying. "O-Oh my god grandma! I just... I gotta go! Bye! Love you take care!" You say as she giggles and waves at you until you close the door. You lock the door and lean your forehead on the door to hide your flushed face as you let out a sigh. "I'm not gay." You hear from behind you and a smile quickly appears on your face as you duck your head in an attempt to make yourself smaller. "I wouldn't know! I just... told her that before she kept up with the whole 'Jumping your bones' thing! I didn't think she would say something like that! She's always trying to get me to hook up with any 'Young stud' as she kindly puts it. Let's just forget whatever happened there and we can... Start trying to make sense of what ever I did?" You say more unsure about the situation in hand. He only crosses his arms and sends you a nod, cueing you to go take a seat on the stools. He follows you as you motion with your right hand for him to follow you.
Once you both have a seat at the small kitchen island he slams the scissors down with his left hand onto the table causing you to quickly sit up straight, now realizing the playful air around you two has now gone stale. "Now, start talking." 'Sebastian' Says and you quickly nod with a gulp.