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To say that Tide had been expecting a call from Mark Winters himself almost a year after his imprisonment would be a lie, he had not been expecting anything truly. With no real home outside of the Prime Defenders Hall to stay in he had been rooming with his gracious brother Magma, who took him in with sad but understanding eyes. Neither of them needed to speak on Tide’s fate, it was a necessary punishment for his shortcomings — though that did not spare either of them from the hurt.
He stopped watching the news 2 months in. Stopped itching to drive past the Prime Hall four months in. And stopped holding onto the hope of seeing the boys out in public 8 months in. 10 Months in he gets a phone call from an unknown number.
“Hello?” He answers cheerfully in the middle of preparing for lunch, a box of beef stroganoff tucked under his arm.
“Holy shit you actually answered.” Wavelength’s scratchy voice came through the phone. Tide’s eyes widened as his grip tightened on the phone, something cold settling in his chest.
“Mark?” He barely whispered.
“Yeah shithead it’s me.” He sounded nervous. “Listen I-I need — nevermind fuck this was stupid.” Tide heard the beginning of shuffling from the otherside of the phone.
“Wait!” He shouted too quickly, wincing slightly hoping Magma would not hear him. The rustling on the other end stopped. Tide swallowed hard, placing the box harshly on the counter. “Where are you?”
“...Near Antonios. You plannin’ on sending me back to jail?” Came Wavelengths dejected voice after a moment.
“...No. No I don’t think I am. I will see you soon.” He hangs up the phone before Wavelength could get another word out — shoving his phone in his back pocket.
He exited the kitchen quickly — avoiding the hard stare he knew Magma was giving him from the living room. Spouting some quick excuse about needing to get groceries he quickly got in his car. Magma shouted something after him but Tide was already pulling out of the driveway before he could hear anything.
5 minutes into the drive was when he realized he was gripping the steering wheel hard enough to cause his knuckles to turn white. 6 minutes was when he realized he hadn’t been breathing properly. 7 was when he realized he also may have been speeding, God if only the boys could see him now. He felt like a live wire ready to snap at even the slightest tension, everything burned and moved too fast for him to even properly keep up. Tide let out a shaky breath easing up on the gas pedal and flexing his fingers one at a time.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.
This would be fine, he thought to himself. Seeing Wavelength was fine. Seeing Mark was fine.
So maybe it was not fine, but fuck did it have to be. Tide didn’t have much left if it wasn’t.
Rounding the corner towards Antonio’s pizza he immediately saw the phone booth — but no Wavelength standing there. A stone dropped in his gut as he pulled to a stop near the booth - where the hell was Mark? The younger man rolled down his window to peer outside before jumping harshly as a knocking sound on the passenger window — the car jerked slightly as his foot left the break only to be quickly stomped down once more. He whipped his head to the side to see Wavelength outside the window — knuckles still raised to tap the window and a nervous look on his face. He looked, well, dirty. His blonde hair was overgrown and greasy, not to mention he had grown a quite scraggly beard, and his clothes weren’t much better. A ratty purple tank top with some yellow jumpsuit pulled down and tied to his waist. And oh god he had no bandages at all.
Tide sat frozen for a moment gripping the steering wheel once more before he unlocked the car without looking. Wavelength jumped inside quickly looking over his shoulder as he did so — eyes wide in controlled paranoia.
The two of them sat in silence in the car — the only noise breaking the silence being Tide’s car window slowly rolling back up.
“So...you uh, changed your hair.” Wavelength broke the silence first. Tide looked over blinking in confusion before his eyes widened.
“O-Oh yeah…I did.” He reached behind his head feeling a few of the dreadlocks between his fingers.
“Still got the kiddo’s beads, huh?” Wavelength motioned with his hand stiffly to the one beaded dreadlock hanging in front of Tides face.
Tide frowned, putting his hand back on the wheel, as he turned his attention to the road. He hadn’t ever taken them out. It would be much longer than 10 months if he ever even began to consider doing so. He pulled away from the side of the street, refusing to respond to Wavelengths comment.
Neither man spoke for the car ride back to Tide’s home. A million questions and situations were running through the younger man’s mind as he drove — questions about wavelength, questions about what he was going to tell Magma, questions about the kids, questions about everything he had ever even known. Whatever God was listening in on his silent freak out must’ve taken some pity — as when he pulled up to Magma’s home the man’s car was gone. This indicated to Tide his brother had gone out and would likely be out for some time.
He let out what seemed like his first breath in minutes as he placed the car in park. Placing his forehead against the wheel to regain some sense of what was happening. Tide knew the following things:
Mark was out of prison.
Mark was very likely on the run.
He was now harboring Mark in the passenger seat of his car.
He was a forcefully retired superhero. Harboring a notorious villain. In his car.
“Fuck.” Tide mumbled to himself. He peeled one eye open to look at Wavelength sitting next to him, and found the hybrid man staring at Magmas house. His brows pinched in confusion. Tide’s gaze flicked to the home quickly before going back to Wavelength.
“I’m living with my brother.” He offered.
“Ok that makes a lot more fuckin’ sense.” Mark frowned slightly. “I was really wonderin’ why the hell you brought me to a home instead of — I dunno your Prim-ey Hall or whatever the fuck.”
“...Prime Hall.” Tide frowned. “And…nevermind.”
“Never mind what?” Wavelength finally looked at Tide. “I know we both got a lot of questions so I don’t think nevermind-ing anything is gonna do good here. You can keep shit from the kids but not from me.”
“Do not critique me like you didn’t do the same to Ashe.” Tide bit out quickly, venom seeping into his tone. “It wasn’t my choice. I would’ve given those kids the world if I could but now I can’t. So what’s done is done. Let’s get you a shave. You look horrible with that beard.” He unbuckled, stepping out of the car quickly — and slamming the door behind him with a wince. Wavelength followed suit, albeit closing his door gently.
Tide checked ahead in the home for Magma just to be careful before allowing Wavelength inside. He gave the hybrid some of Magma’s older clothes he knew his brother would never notice and guided him to the bathroom. He returned to the kitchen once he heard the water running, a deep instinct within him tugging to move the water as a funny prank. His fingers twitched at his side and he half expected to hear Mark shout — but the soft lull of the water continued uninterrupted.
It was 30 minutes before Mark came downstairs. 10 Minutes past when Tide had made coffee and set out two cups on the dining room table. 5 since Tide picked up a book to distract himself.
The hybrid looked better — his hair was still long but it no longer was shiney with grease and his beard had been shaved nicely. He still had no bandages.
“Red is a strange color on you.” Tide spoke to break the everlasting silence.
“I primarily wear purple, or green, so that’s probably fuckin why.” Wavelength sighed, dropping into the chair like a bag of stones, the tension visibly draining from his body. Tide however felt like a live wire — grossly exposed and ready to jump at the slightest touch.
“So.” Mark spoke, grabbing Tide’s attention. “Who goes first?”
“Goes first?”
“Our own fucked up verion of 20 questions, I guess.” Wavelength shrugged taking a long sip of the coffee — eyes never breaking their stare on Tide.
“I can begin.” Tide gripped his cup with two hands tightly. “What are you doing out of prison?”
“Your kids showed up and started fuckin’ around with this new guy, Le Frog.”
“Le Frog was in prison?” Tide’s eyebrows shot up, Mark watched him curiously.
“Yeah…” Wavelength frowned watching Tide carefully. “He murdered like 20 people or something at a bank. Your kids came in to clear his name I guess but he went berserk. Started busting people out and killing them. I barely escaped with my fuckin life.”
“That does not make sense…Le Frog does not kill people.” Tide pondered to himself, Le Frog had been a thorn in the defenders side sure but he was an easy villain. He was perfect for the kids to fight, not a man impossible to beat but not someone to be taken lightly.
“He does when he starts glowing orange and laughing maniacally.” Wavelength bit back sharply, something hidden and venomous behind those words. “My turn.” Wavelength pulled Tide from his thoughts once more. “Why aren’t you sending me back to jail? You’re a hero and like my arch nemesis, or whatever the fuckin’ kids think, so why am I sitting at your brother’s table drinking coffee?”
Tide paused. So Wavelength didn’t know…he didn’t know Tide was just a civilian. That his powers had been taken away and he was unassigned from the kids. He didn’t know Tide was…accepting his punishment. Accepting his failure. All things considered Wavelength could kill him quite easily now, he was just a human and the hybrid had clearly been keeping up his physical form as much as a jail cell would allow.
Tide supposed he still held some bitterness toward the Prime Force and his superiors for their decision to de-power him. He understood it fully, he had not done his proper work in taking care of the kids. They had constantly risked their life for him time and time again while he had failed — while he had been captured or weak. Depowering was a consequence he had coming for a long time so it was only reasonable to accept it, it didn't mean it still didn’t hurt. So perhaps keeping Wavelength hidden from them for a bit longer was a soft bit of retaliation — one he’s never been truly allowed.
“I…” Tide choked on his words — staring into the dark liquid of his drink. How could he truly explain it all without sounding weak and petty. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Wavelength repeated incredulously.
“I do not. It is now my turn to ask as I have technically answered your question.” Tide sat up straight now staring down Wavelength, who grumbled into his cup with a scowl knowing the younger man was correct.
“Go ahead.”
“Why me?” Wavelength raised his eyebrow in confusion and Tide quickly moved to clarify. “Why call me? I-It doesn’t make sense.”
“...I can’t really go back to Overlord. Anyone tied to him is off that list. I can’t call my kid.” Wavelength huffed angrily. “I can’t call his little friends either cause they’d send me right back to that cell. I’m 90% sure I don’t have a house anymore. Which leaves…you.”
Tide couldn’t help but feel a bit of bitter resentment flicker in his chest.
“So I was your last option.” He spoke flatly — to which Mark tipped his cup in acknowledgement.
“That — and I had a hunch you’d help me. You’ve always been kind to me, Tide.”
“I’ve been more than kind to you.” Tide bit back playfully — old old memories fighting to come to the surface. Mark gave a smile of his own before putting the cup down on the table and leaning against his elbows. His dual colored eyes watching Tide carefully as he asked his final question.
“Did you get depowered Tide?”
Fuck. Fuck how does he know. How does he fucking know.
Tide choked on the coffee in his throat as Wavelength asked his question. After a brief coughing fit he turned back to look up at Wavelength, who remained frustrating neutral — almost as if he was studying Tide.
“What?” Tide answered — voice still rough from all his coughing.
“Did - you - get - depowered?” Wavelength repeated again, emphasizing each word.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, of course I haven’t been depowered.”
“Then where are the kids?”
Fuck.
“Off on a mission.”
“Without your supervision or guidance? You didn’t even know the frog fucker had been put in jail.”
Please.
“I’ve been busy with other hero missions. The kids are mighty capable of doing hero work, they do not need me all the time.”
“You didn’t take me to your Defenders Hall. Which I know you sleep at.”
Stop.
“I’m taking some time off. Spending time with family. The hall has security cameras anyway I couldn’t be seen taking you in.”
“Sure whatever but I haven’t seen you speak to a member of your family this much since…” Please don’t say it. “—Much less live with them.”
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
“I-.” Tide paused, he had no excuse he hadn’t already used already. Before Tide could come up with another quick response Wavelength continued poking holes in his story.
“You said you couldn’t take care of the kids anymore.” Wavelength’s brow knit in worry, his voice soft as he reached his hand across the table to place it atop Tide’s — the younger man ducked his head away quickly, something dark pooling in his chest. “I know you’d never let those kids go unless they were taken from you.”
“It was an acceptable consequence for my actions.” Tide pulled his hand away sharply — standing up from the table. “I did not do my duty in protecting the children and thus I pay the price. The Prime Defenders have functioned well without me and will continue to do so.”
“Tide-!” Wavelength shouted but Tide had already walked away from the table and into the kitchen. He poured the rest of his coffee down the sink turning on the water to rinse the inside out. Tide refused to turn around to face Wavelength as he heard the hybrid enter the kitchen.
“I do not want to speak about this, Wavelength. What’s done is done. I’m just a civilian now living with his brother.” Tide grit his teeth and gripped the counter as Wavelength placed a hand on his shoulder — it was frustratingly familiar. They’d been here before.
“Tide…” Mark’s voice was quiet — it sent a pang of familiarity through Tide’s chest. He refused to look at the hybrid, choosing instead to focus on the soapy water sitting in the sink.
“I shouldn’t be so upset about this. You just got broken out of jail and you lost-.” Tide sighed heavily letting his head drop. Wavelength moved one of his arm’s over Tide’s back, bringing the other under his chest — holding the younger man in a small hug.
“You’re allowed to be upset.” Mark mumbled resting his chin on Tide’s head, an action so achingly familiar. “You’ve been a superhero since you’ve been born, to expect you to be anything else is fuckin' garbage.”
“I don’t even care about being depowered anymore.”
“Liar.” Mark mumbled, gently running his thumb across Tide’s shoulder.
“I just want to know if the kids are ok.” Tide couldn’t help but lean into Mark’s embrace, to which the hybrid responded by holding him closer. Mark moved his arms so Tide could rest his head against Mark’s chest, to which he did in turn. God it’d been so long since Tide had been just hugged. His brothers had given him short hugs at the beginning sure but it wasn’t the same. They never stayed long enough to let him grieve.
“Those kids are tough as nails, you and I both know that.” Silent tears slipped down Tide’s cheeks as he rested his head against Mark. “I watched ‘em kick that frog’s fuckin ass.” He spoke with a small chuckle. Tide let out a huff wiping some of the tears from his face.
“Is Dakota still a wild card?”
“Even more now, it looks like he crawled straight out from the woods. I think Vyncents havin’ some issues with whatever his, like, powers are but him and William still hit like trucks. They’re gonna be just fine.”
“I think I know what they’re trying to do.” Tide mumbled, he may be a bit clueless to some things but when it came to those kids he knew them better than most.
“I think I do as well.” Mark spoke with a heavy sigh. “If they manage to bring him home I’ll owe those stupid fuckers everything.”
“They’ll do it.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No I do.” Tide looked up at Mark, a buried grief permeating the hybrid's features. Tide reached up gently cupping the side of Mark's face that held scales. The man flinched away from the touch for a moment before slowly accepting the touch. “Those kids are stubborn, and if anyone can bring Ashe back it’s them.”
Small tears formed in Mark's eyes as he sighed once more, they both seemed to be doing a lot of that lately. Tide gently held Mark’s face in both of his hands as he wiped the tears away.
“I could’ve been better to him, Tide. I-I put so much - blame on him but he was just a kid.”
“Is just a kid.” Tide corrected. “They’ll bring him home, I promise you.”
“You can’t promise that.” He protested once more.
“I can.” Tide frowned but then smiled with a short laugh. “If you think the kids are letting their friend go like that you’re wrong.” Mark chuckled, wiping away the last of his own tears — mumbling quick confirmations knowing he’d get nowhere expressing his own doubts.
The two of them stood there for a moment before Tide moved to pull away from the embrace. Mark kept his arms closed watching the younger man with a quiet sadness.
“We — Mark we can’t do this. Not again.”
“Does it really matter anymore? I know we’re not the sexy star crossed lovers we used to be but-.” Mark smiled sadly but let his arms drop. “...I miss you, you know.”
“...I do miss you too.” Tide’s hand twitched at his side. “Our witty banter when fighting was always…quite fun.”
Mark huffed — rolling his eyes with a smile. “We did a bit more than fuckin quip at eachother Tide-.”
Tide shook his head quickly, holding up his finger to silence the hybrid. “I do not know when Magma will be home, likely not for a while, but if he catches me in the arms of a villain it will not go over well.”
“You’re kicking me out?”
“No!” Tide responded quickly. “No I-I’m not I’m just, I need time to think of what to say to him. Or how we are going to proceed with this. I do not want to send you back to prison and you are correct in your earlier statement that you very likely don’t have a house-” Tide began to pace slightly running through his options. Mark watched him babble to himself for a moment before stopping the man with a hand on his shoulder.
“Tide.” He spoke evenly. The young man stopped his ramblings looking up at the hybrid. “You’re gonna walk yourself into a fuckin trench at this rate. Call Magma and see how long he’s out. We can go from there.”
Tide nodded slowly trying to get his thoughts back in order. The hand on his shoulder slid downward pressing lightly onto the small of his back as Mark placed a kiss on his temple. Electricity ran up Tide’s spine as he sputtered and felt his face heat up. He heard Mark laugh to himself as he stepped out of the kitchen.
“Keep a hold of yourself, puddle. I can’t have you going crazy on me too.”
That damn nickname. Tide rolled his eyes with a fond smile dialing Magma’s number.
Lucky enough for them Magma was away on a hero trip — far longer than Tide had been guessing. This news took a great relief off his shoulders as Magma grumbled on the other side of the phone.
“I tried telling you while you were running out of the house — where the hell were you going anyway?”
“I told you I needed to get groceries.” Tide held the phone against his ear using his shoulder — placing the now washed cups inside his cupboard.
“That quickly? You looked on the verge of a panic attack, Tide.”
“Rusty’s was having a sale on beef stroganoff.” Tide smiled, eyeing the unopened box still on his counter. He could practically feel Mark roll his eyes from the living room.
“...If you say so.” Magma sounded suspicious but he knew pushing Tide would get him nothing. They say Seismic was the most stubborn of The Elementals but Tide could lie better than any of them — it’s never safe to trust the ocean after all.
Well, he was a good liar when he wasn’t in the middle of 20 questions with an ex-convict he happened to fancy.
The two brothers said their goodbyes before Tide entered the living room. Mark was already laying down on the couch peering outside between the open curtains.
“You make yourself at home quickly.” Tide chided him pushing Mark’s legs up so he could sit down onto the couch as well. Mark huffed, placing his legs once more across Tide’s lap.
“What can I say, the couch is comfy.” Mark barked out a laugh. “And it’s not everyday I get to dirty up the great Magma’s fuckin’ couch.”
“It is not a fucking couch, it is simply a couch. No salacious acts have been committed here.”
“Yet.” Mark shot Tide a toothy grin. Tide felt his face heat up once more giving the hybrid a smack on the leg.
“We are not!” Tide hissed with a smile.
“Yeah yeah.” Mark smiled
1 day later Mark settled into the home easier than they had expected. 3 days until Mark had finally gotten himself new bandages. 7 until anxieties had fully settled down that nobody from the prison was looking for Mark.
The days that passed with Mark in his home were…honestly easy. Tide would never admit it to himself but having someone who didn’t look at him with intense pity for once was nice. Mark didn’t make a big deal out of Tide’s situation, he stayed when Tide needed someone and gave him space when it was too much.
It was viciously domestic…and comfortable. 9 days in Tide peered out the window in the morning while pouring their usual coffee — Mark still fast asleep in Tide's bed. The house was quiet, the sound of birds and wind chimes clinking through the window. Cars rumbled down the street heading off to jobs or dropping kids at school, and in a dark red house in the middle of suburbia — lived Mark Winters and Tide. Two men with pasts and secrets the average person would never even begin to understand, and yet they had each other. An ex-convict and exiled hero found a semblance of peace living a household life, how ironic.
10 days in Tide stopped counting how long Mark had been in the house.
15 days in he went to wake up Mark, much earlier than normal.
“You suck.” Mark grumbled pulling the blanket further up over his head. “It’s fucking 8 am and you suck so much.”
“You need to get moving.” Tide frowned, pulling the blanket off the man sharply. The hybrid cried out as cold air blasted his body — Mark feigned a hiss as he curled in on himself to conserve warmth. “Magma comes home today.”
“Yeah and he doesn’t come back till like 4. It’s, may I fuckin remind you, 8.”
“I need you out so I can clean up your stink.” Tide grabbed Mark by the ankle pulling him from the bed — to which the man groaned and let himself flop onto the hardwood floor.
Tide had spoken to his superiors and managed to gain his own apartment — a sort of post apology for what they had to do. He accepted it with a strong smile, ignoring the shitty circumstances and choosing instead to think of how much easier it would be to hide a criminal in his own home rather than the guest room of his brothers. Many of Tide’s items the two of them already transported over — and even some small items Mark had gotten for himself. All that remained were a few larger things of Tide’s that he would require the help of Magma for and well…Mark. Though the lizard hybrid remained firmly stuck on the floor pouting ferociously.
“Mark.”
“Tide.”
“Mark.”
“Fuck you.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Give me a fuckin blanket and maybe I’ll consider getting up-Hey!” Mark shouted as Tide roughly dropped the curled blanket onto his face. He let out a muffled cry shoving it off his head and flicking off the younger man. Tide only laughed and made his way out of the room — calling over his shoulder as he did so.
“You have 10 minutes to get up before I come in there again!”
“Fuck! off!”
Tide made his way downstairs, grabbing the book he was reading from the shelf before sitting down on the couch. He heard no noise or shuffle from upstairs.
In the back of his mind he began a countdown —
10 minutes,
9 minutes,
8 minutes,
7 minutes,
6 minutes,
5 minutes,
4 minutes,
3 minutes,
2 minutes,
1 minute.
“Maaaark!”