Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“You look awful”

Angel moved to meet the eyes of Asher’s mate, they had a plastic bag on their right hand and papers under their left. They looked tired, Angel can see it in their eyes because it’s the same look that they saw on the mirror before leaving the house while David was still sleeping, minus the grey forming bags under the eyes, Angel was never one to wear makeup.

“You are one to talk” They answered as Babe sat beside them in the park bench, they were wearing the suit of “Important meeting” as Angel and Sweetheart had called “You look like you will fall asleep while standing”

Babe sighed handing the bag to Angel so they could get the food out, their office where separated by a park and since meting one another they had decided to eat on a middle spot, since Babe job had a catering service that made good food Angel paid them so they could eat something healthy to assure David that they were taking care of themselves and not having cook for them

“Well I might snooze a little here” Babe confessed rubbing their temples “And, unlike you, I use makeup to cover up my black bags”

Angel snickered at the comment as they got the lunch out of the bag, today was spaghetti with meatballs.

There’s just one box.

“Why…?”

“Relax Mother hen” Babe got a sandwich from under all their papers “I got this on the way out, I can’t get this dirty I got another meeting after lunch so I gotta stay as clean as possible”

Angel nods and they eat in silence, it’s been like that since…since the attack in the games, both of them where so tired and so stressed that lunch had become the only time were they had…silence. One that wasn’t suffocating to the point where Angel felt like screaming.

Since the Games, the medals ceremony and all of the hazard of the job Angel thought that it had been years instead of only two months: Waking up in the middle of the night to David screams, the hours holding him until almost sunlight telling him time and time again that he wasn’t a bad person, that he didn’t deserved being hated, trying everything they could think of to lift his spirit a little.

Angel hated it.

They hated seeing him hurting so much, they hated having to just stand there and not being able to help him. Angel never wanted something more than to want to take David’s pain away.

They hated being so helpless to help him.

So they do everything they can for David, Angel is certain that it’s the same for Babe, the thing was…Being unempowered created a wall that was impossible to cross, things that made Angel feel like they had a violent river that they couldn’t cross separating them from David, no matter how much they tried.

The lunches break with Babe always helped them to not feel so…alone and lost in the empowered world. It was comforting. Having someone who understood their fears and felt as clueless as they felt. Someone to talk about their frustration that they couldn’t talk to David because this was his world not theirs They didn’t want to put that weight on him.

As they eat Angel can feel how both of them are just…soaking into the peace of the park, a peace that relaxes them a little, it chases away their creeping thoughts that neither of them are ready to face: What that night had done to them.

Not David, not Asher, not the pack that was there that night or the whole Dahlia, but to them.

Angel and Babe knew, deep down, that they couldn’t avoid it forever, that they had to tell their mates about it. But right now they felt that their little fears are nothing compared with what their mates went through.

“what gives you the right to complain?” A voice in the back in Angel’s mind said when they felt like telling David how they felt “he had to choose whose life matter most and then fight for his life and here you are complaining about a phone call and having to wait while doing nothing, don't bother him now”

But it was exactly that what crept in their mind at night, when David wasn’t having nightmares it was their own the ones that kept Angel awake until their eyes closed on their own just looking at David sleep against them: That one fucking phone call, Milo telling them that they needed to come because something had gone horribly wrong at the games and then having to be told that the department wouldn’t lift that ward and having to just stay there with Babe and Lasko just waiting and then it was only them. Alone and scared.

They had talked a little about it, two weeks after the medal’s ceremony. Babe had told them how bad they hated not having the ability to just…Transfer to themselves Ash scar, his pain, how that wait felt like it was going to kill them, it broke them, both of them. Both ended up in tears that day (Thank god that David was on a pack meeting when they returned home so he wouldn’t have to see their red eyes from all the crying) and since then they had made lunch another break: A break from all the world and their own mind.

“You got to teach me how to do make up” Angel says picking the noodles “I never got into it too much…My mother wasn’t…. a fan of me using it”

Babe nods smiling like a mischievous child it even reaches their eyes, making them a little lighter. They don’t have to mention the nightmares or their fears, both already know why they look awful. Neither can cross that bridge right now so they content themselves with the company of the other.

“Finally I’ve wanted to get you into it since we met” they finish the sandwich and stretch their whole body “I have an eye shadow that I want to prove on you since forever”

Angel chuckles, it’s a sound that’s so weird to hear these days that they almost forgot what it sounded like.

“I’m sure you do” they rest their head rest on Babe’s shoulders, who replays by holding their hand, it was the same way that they had given each other comfort in the campus of DAMN while they waited for the guys, alone “Don’t make me regret it so soon”

“I won’t”

They stay like that for a little longer after finishing the food, just enjoying the presence of each other. Sometimes it was nice having someone who had the same doubts as you to keep you company.

Learning about a new whole world wasn’t something easy, knowing that David hadn’t told them not even half of the thing that existed was overwhelming. Angel didn’t think that they would have stayed in other circumstances, they had been lied one too many time for their liking.

But with David it was different.

They trusted him to a level that they didn’t believe it was possible anymore, not after Michel, Angel didn’t care that he hadn’t tell them everything as long as he was by their side they would go at his time but it would be a lie if they said it didn’t scare and hurt them a little being left out of such an important aspect of his life.

And that night at DAMN they were left alone with Babe, not knowing what the hell was happening and not been able to do anything. At the end they were left alone in a corner, forgotten, with no one but themselves.

“I think on asking Ash about trying the therapy that the department and the academy provided” they say as they pick their things “Tomorrow, it’s my free day”

Angel stared at them before patting their head.

“I thought of the same” they confessed “the only reason I haven’t already is because David isn’t ready for having that talk yet. I’m sure Ash will be more open to that if you talk about what’s worrying you”

“I really hope so” Babe looked like they were thinking of falling asleep or cry right then and there “Because I don’t…I can’t keep seeing him hurt so much and not do something more than to say it’s going to be okay”

Angel knew that because they felt the same every day.

“I know it’s not what we would wish but sometimes it’s just enough with you being there for him” they took their hand and squeeze “Even if doesn’t look or feel like enough”

Babe opened their mouth but the alarms of the end of the break sounded in the quiet of the park, Babe sighed.

“Thanks I…for everything”

“Hey what are friends for? Now go to that horribly meeting and knock them down”

“Don’t give me ideas, see you at six?”

“As always, take care”

Babe waved goodbye before walking rapidly, Angel stayed for a moment there until there weren’t on sight anymore.

When they woke up they founded a note in the plate, David was nowhere to be seen.

“Hope I didn’t tire you that much Angel, here’s something for you to eat so you won’t miss me too much.

See you tonight”

Angel shook their head, chasing that memory away and turned to leave for their office too. They weren't prepared to open that Pandora box.

Not yet.

Chapter Text

By the time Angel pick them up Babe had started to severely considered the possibility of their brain trying to break free from their skull.

The sun had begun it’s descend, leaving behind a deep blue sky with some touches of orange and purple, the wind had started to rise as Angel parked in the front so they wouldn’t freeze while walking. Angel didn’t look much better than them, only a little, but that was because Angel hadn’t had to repress the urgent need of throwing someone from the eighth floor.

“Wow, was it that bad?” Angel asked as Babe got inside.

They exhaled all the air they had in them for the past hour, it didn’t help their headache, but it felt like it helped their blood pressure drop from the sky.

“No, well yes, it was complicated but we got the contract” for the million time this day they sighed and rubbed their temples “But one of the groups of the Management lost one of the parts of the contract, MY part of the contract, it took all of the leads of the teams to make time while the part that was missing”

“Ouch, now I know why you look like you were going to kill me when you entered”

“Sorry” they rubbed their sore eyes “I just want to get home… got really close to either throw Tiffany from the window or just jump off myself”

Angel snickered at their comment, it was good, at least one of them was laughing.

“I just imagine that scene, sorry”

“Oh it was funny even if no one went out flying from the eighth floor” they made their neck crack earning a weird face from angel “Please try to picture this; a woman looking at the ceiling for a total of almost ten minutes trying to think where the hell had that part possibly be while a circle of four people was looking at her and giving ideas. Thomas was about to choke her” Babe shook their head at the memory “over all I ended up finding it in her piles upon piles of files”

Angel laughed, like a full laugh for the first time in weeks. Babe was happy that at least someone could laugh from this disaster.

Maybe, when they didn’t feel their veins were about to explode from the pressure, they could laugh it up.

“Oh my god that’s…I wouldn’t be able to believe it had I never worked with her in the past”

Right, Angel had told them about it, they knew her from their first company.

“I forgot that you knew her” Babe confessed “Was it always that bad?”

“I don’t think it was like that she was…difficult to work with but never like you described it”

“I think she wants my job”

There was silence, Angel looked troubled for a minute. Babe felt their stomach sink as they realize that their suspicions could be real.

“It’s not impossible” They confirmed “Back when I worked at Vesta she tried to get one of my old team mates fired to get their position, she tried to frame him but I didn’t buy it, that guy was the only one that worked the same as hard as I did, he was my right hand and hell would freeze before I let him go like that”

Babe pressed their lips in a thin line.

“How is it that she wasn’t fired? I saw her background and it didn't say anything”

“She’s a daddy’s girl, her father intervened to keep everything in close walls so she was only demoted and force to apologize” Angel frowned and look at Babe in the red Light “what exactly did she do?”

“That particular part of the contract was under my jurisdiction, had I not found it and lost the firm they would have had my head” They rubbed their temples “Now that you told me this I will be more careful in the future”

“Piece of advice and then we change the subject” Angel turned to see the road ahead “Keep track of everything, all the things you give her make sure someone’s watching you do it or do it in the sights of the cameras, and keep your team close, you might want to talk about technicities when she asks you about what you are working on, go about to use the more technical language you can muster, if she sees how hard it is she might desist then”

Babe nodded, taking notes. It wasn’t their first time dealing with this kind of dirty work.

“Thanks I’ll keep it in mind”

When they got to the apartment and saw Ash napping in the couch their headache went from their brain bouncing in their skull to a little pain in the front.

They went tip toing around, as quiet as they could. They left their things in the room and after getting rid of their shoes and their jacket and grabbed a blanket from the closet to wrap Ash in it with Ryn, the wolf stuffed animal that looked similar to Ash that he’d gifted them in their birthday.

“It’s for when you are away and miss me” he had told them.

His hair was a mess, blond hair that went every direction possible, he wasn’t wearing a shirt, like always, Babe was always worrying that he was going to get a cold on winter, the scars on his chest visible; long claw marks that had lost that red color and were looking more pink. Before they were always careful not to hurt him, now they began to have more trust to touch him. No scars where going to keep them from Asher.

They moved some hair from his face to take a better look at him and couldn’t resist to kiss him on the lips and then another in the forehead, Asher stirred in his sleep but he didn’t wake up. Babe wanted to kiss him awake but didn’t, he had been having some nightmares and wanted him to rest as much as possible. So they gave him Ryn as a way to let him know that they were there.

It wasn’t until the hot almost burning water touched their skin that they realized three things:

Their muscles could be considered rope with how stone from how tense they were.

They had been holding their breath unconsciously.

They couldn’t stop shaking.

They took a big breath, trying to settle their thoughts and the feelings of fear and anxiety going through them finally.

When they realized that a part of the contract, their part was missing, they felt like their heart had stopped working, the face of their boss when they told him. And the relive to have found them in the pile of Tiffany’s work with all the supervisors all in scene. Had it not been found they would had been fired…all their hard work gone…

Forcing themselves to just not think about the day, they showered slowly, taking their time until the water almost ran cold but it helped with their muscles, they changed into their pajamas and settle in the living room after ordering something from Asher’s favorite place.

Their mail was exploiting with emails.

HR’s, Supervisors, the leads of the other teams, all of them talking about the contract disappearance and appearance in Tiffany’s pile of files. Which in itself was worrisome. Babe hadn’t told everything to Angel because it was already a complicated situation and, for the moment, it had to be handle behind doors.

Tiffany had been working for one of the supervisor of the section of the department as his secretary, the “pile” had important documents that were report missing for a couple of weeks now, a lot of them with Clients information that were classified.

And they had all been piling up in a hiding part of Tiffany’s desk.

Mister Rohan, Tiffany’s boss, had been there not actually helping to look for the contract but making uncomfortable remarks at Babe and their team. They had been so close to actually hit him after a bigotry crap came out from his disgusting mouth about one of the members of the team that was pregnant…Only thinking about it made their blood pressure skyrocket and their brain jumping around in their skull again. Babe hadn’t been able to forget it, the moment that Tiffany turned around and they saw their sticky note to the carpet of the file, Tiffany’s face when they snatched open the drawer and pulled the contract out along with other important files. Mister Rohan’s face turned from this smug smile to this horrified expression as pale as a ghost.

The mails were about the incident, HR wanted to know more how they had found the files, the supervisors were collecting stories and the team leads had lend their support…

 “Babe?” Asher’s sleepy voice made them come back to the present “Babe where are you?”

They were by his side in a blink, brushing his hair softly, murmuring sweet reassuring quotes that they knew it worked for him when he had nightmares. His forehead was a little warm, his eye’s twitched behind his eyelids. Babe ran a hand through his hair as they kept on murmuring slowly but surely Asher calmed down, his breathing finally settling down as he went back to sleeping. They stayed like that, just soaking on Asher’s breathing and the softness of his hair.

“I wish I could do more” their voice is but a whisper “I wish I could just take that pain from you and carry it myself”

He mumbled something incomprehensible, Babe let out a chuckle and kissed the birth of his hair and went back to answering email after email. Even the food got there before Asher woke up, Babe was far from hungry so they just kept on writing the emails on a word sheet so they could review them later and send them all at once…

A pair of warm hands massaged their shoulder that had become stone again. It felt so good that they couldn’t stop the moan that escape their lips.

“Do my hands feel that good Babe?” Asher’s voice was still a little rough from his sleep.

Babe lay on the chair to look at him better, his hair was still a mess but those beautiful eyes of his were their favorite thing to look at.

“Morning sleeping head” they said with their voice a little raspy. It happened when they were too nervous, they cleared their throat “Sleep well?”

 Asher smiled, it was tiny but it was there and Babe would do anything to keep it. He leaned down to kiss them. He made it slow and so tasty… Until he pulled away with a smirk in his lips.

“Yeah thanks you for leading Ryn” he answered giving them the wolf plushy. He kneeled beside them to their level “Long day?”

“Yeah a very long day. How was the meeting?”

 Ash sighed and rested his head on their lap, their hand went to his hair on its own.

“It was…better than expected. We settle on two months so everyone can think about it. And we just going to take unempowered gigs for the mean time” He explained “The money of the games should be enough for that…”

Babe pinched his cheek to get his mind of that track.

“You hungry? I know I said I would cook but am beat so I order”

Asher smiled again, this time more warmly. God how much could Babe love that smile?

“I notice, thanks for ordering my faves babe” he says running his hand up and down their legs “movie marathon then?”

They couldn’t resist leaning down and kiss his cheek.

“Let me finish this email and I’ll meet you on the couch”

Asher pouted making Babe laugh and stroke his cheek.

“Promise?”

“I promise”

Babe was out half way to the second movie of Stark Trek.

Well they were actually half asleep, in that thin line between being awake and the land of dreams. Their head bouncing ever so slightly against Asher’s side, trying and failing to keep themselves awake, they had to finish the email... It was difficult to keep their eyes open with Asher’s hand moving on their arm, the warmth of his body and just…him holding them. It made all the tension and anxiety and fear from the day just go away.

All day long this was the only thing keeping them together after all the contract fiasco, thinking that they could just cuddle Asher and forget the outside world. They could just…stop for a minute and let their body catch with itself after running all day.

They didn’t stand a chance as it was, and when Asher started running his finger through their hair they were done for.

They could send the emails first thing morning.

They were out before long.

Chapter Text

Asher smiled at his mate.

They had their head on his chest. Their hair covering their face as they slept wrapped around Asher, nuzzling him with one of their hand grabbing his shirt unconsciously.

“That long of a day huh?” he said quietly, gently moving their hair off their face “You usually last to the third”

Babe startled only to nuzzle more into Asher if that was possible, Ash shush them as he stroked their hair with one hand. The truth was that the movie marathon was to get Babe to just relax enough for him to make them sleepy so they wouldn’t overwork themselves. Since the games Babe had been working hard, they weren’t in need for money but they also weren’t in a position to just throw money to the ceiling. Babe had told him to not worry about the money when it came to his decision about the security team.

“You already have a lot on your back” they had said “Don’t even dare to think about the money we are stable right now and I want you to focus on what you need”

Asher had accepted because they were right, thinking about the money was only adding a burden in his mind. He was grateful beyond words what that he could rely so much on them but saying it didn’t weight on them was a lie.

He was lucky to have them.

But something didn’t felt right today. When Asher opened his eyes and saw he was hugging Ryn he knew that Babe was home, it was a way for them to tell him that they had arrived without him freaking out, only to turn around and be blessed with seeing them working not far from him. When he got out of the sleepy haze he noticed how tense they were.

Their back might as well be a wall, their shoulders a spring by how tense and rigid they looked. They had their lips pressed into a thin line and almost white from the pressure. They looked…Angry and stress to another level.

It was evident that Babe didn’t want to talk about it. They looked…Tired. Tired in the sense mental sense not only the physical sense, like the last thing they wanted to think about was whatever happened at work.

So Asher did exactly that, making the space for them to just forget about it. Babe wouldn’t be able to just let it alone even if they wanted to, Ash was happy to provide that for them.

“You really are something else uh?” he mumbled as he kissed on top of their head “You seriously have to start to take better care of yourself Babe”

Babe mumbled something that even Asher couldn’t understand and started pressing their head against him, their hands shaking.

“Babe it’s okay” he mumbled moving so he could hold them better “God you are freezing I think is better to take you to bed”

Asher often forgot that he ran hotter than Babe, he often had to remind himself to be mindful of the cold because Babe could be freezing without saying anything or just using it as an excuse to cuddle more closely, his body heat could only do so much before they began to be actually cold.

“Come on Babe, let’s get you to bed”

He carefully slides his arms around Babes legs and low back to hold them, their head rested on his shoulder as they nuzzled against him as if he were a pillow.

“You are too damn cute Babe” Asher thought as he kissed their head “come on let’s get you warm”

It might have been because of the movement but Asher could have sworn that Babe’s shoulders shook as if they were flinching.

Sometimes, when Angel was a younger, they liked to work out in the mornings.

As a kid their family would often critic every aspect of them, from what sock they put on to how they walk, when they were up to the brim with their bullshit they would just run in the mornings and go to a gym that gave free box classes to blow up some steam.

It worked as a coping mechanism and they knew it, back then they would denial their other coping mechanism, like something that, if they tried hard enough, it didn’t exist.

But feeling the air making their nose cold, the quietness of their neighborhood that was just beginning to wake, not the silence but the sensation of peace and the sound of the early morning. The smell of the wet grass. It never made them feel ashamed for needing to work out to just get out of their head, of their own problems.

For just a moment it felt like they were alone in a word that was just starting to wake. Were none would hurt them.

With time that habit of getting up before anyone had faded. Having a life that required a lot of mental and physical energy they couldn’t work out as much so it slowly faded into just waking up early to just sit by the window on their old apartment with something warm on their hands (Or something cold if it was summer) and just stare at it until they had to start preparing for the day.

Now, with David with them, they hadn’t need it. David’s presence gave them that quietness that they had in the early mornings, that loving peace that made their thoughts just…stop for a second. It calmed the raging river that was their mind. Ironically it chased away that suffocating silence with his soft voice.

Angel’s hand traced ghostly over David’s jaw line until they touched his hair. It was too early and if his snores were any clue, he had still hours of sleep ahead of him. They had startled awake at some point, with tears running down without them noticing until they felt one go down their face.

It had been dark, dark enough that the only thing that kept them grounded was David firm hold on them. They stayed like that, hearing David’s breathing, his warmth and his smell. As time passed the room was filled with that blue hue that the mornings had, the blue hue of a new day.

They needed this moment, they couldn't go back to sleep anyways.

The blue, almost fading light, bathed David’s body in it. He looked…ethereal, like something so precious and magic that could only be found on books. Angel touched his forehead ever so careful to move some hair away.

The house was quiet, too quiet. It was deafening. It was like drowning in an infinite sea, it didn’t matter how much they tried they couldn’t breathe.

Without David, that house wasn’t their home, it was a raging sea of memories and love that was now gone.

Their David was gone.

Angel blinked as the tears began to fall again, they shook their head lightly. It wasn’t real. It was just a nightmare. David was there in front of them.

They hadn’t lost him.

David stirred and whined softly as Angel’s hand had stopped without them realized. Angel smiled as they continued to move their hand softly in his hair.

“It will be okay” they thought as the light of the new day filled the room “We will get through this”

It took almost a month before Angel and Babe can have their lunch break together.

Things had been…Hectic to say the least in their works, they had keep each other inform of their mate’s needs, like rest days and they kept on talking in their private chat. Sweetheart was to the brim with work so they had to work with the Department and with Milo out of commission for a little while they kept tabs on them to make sure they weren’t overworking to the point of passing out.

“If they knew how we looked” Angel had joked when they were on call “They would call us hypocritical”

“They would be right though” Babe answered as they started getting ready to cook “But I would never say it to their face”

That afternoon it was raining; the day had made the decision of throwing the meteorology report into the trash can so the both of them agreed to go to a small mall that was close to the park. Babe chuckled as they remembered that call.

Angel was waiting on a table close to the outside part of the mall, they looked…tired, more than the last time they had lunch. At least Babe could relate to that.

“Cheeseburger with some French fries” They announced as they set the containers on the bench “I got us some sodas too”

Angel thank them and got one of the containers, they stretched making their body pop. Babe saw one couple turn, working on an office made them familiar with sound that could be worrying to anyone else.

“Thanks” Angel grabbed the soda as Babe sat beside them “How is the “Regina George-second hand” situation going? Seeing that you haven’t left on a police car I guess it was somewhat good”

Babe sighed and rubbed their eyes while they groaned, if that hadn’t happened was because of their supervisor and the last month with Ash kept them grounded.

“It happened and I’m not entirely sure I have any brain cell unharmed” they complained “How ‘bout you? How was the Intern thing going?”

This time it was Angel to groan, they had told them about how one of their intern had mess up one of the computers and erased part of important documents. Angel had been on the verge of the tears that day when they had called. When Babe went to get them to drive them home they almost went to find the asshole who had done it but that wouldn’t be helpful.

“We have recover as much as we could and got an extend on the schedule” Angel explained as they got the cheeseburger out “I’m honestly surprised I haven’t got buried on paperwork I’m glad the month is ending”

“At least we only have to prepare for the convention”

“Ugh I had forgotten about that torture I don’t even want to think about it”

Every year there was a convention of pep talks and future investors, last year had been cancelled given some problems with the organization so this year was schedule to happen at Dahlia, Babe hadn’t go for   two years since there hadn’t been anything that involved their department. Now they both had to assist. Angel had gone back in Halloween two years ago and had told them that even if it had gone well it was hectic and chaotic, the organization was almost a fiasco so neither of them were looking forward to it.

The mates spend the rest of their time just talking about whatever that came into their mind, even if Babe felt their voice going rasp given the hours that they spend talking Asher to sleep but they don’t mind, by the end of the lunch break both of them are laughing and Babe feels a little better.

Having Angel, someone who was in the same positions as them, was a blessing beyond words. Having this space was another bless.

That happiness only lasted until they got to their office.

Because the office was a chaos.