Work Text:
The bell of the lumberstack rang as Lizzie peeked through the door. Sam didn't react much to the sudden visitor, she just seemed to be mopping the dusty tiles of the empty diner.
Well, it wasn't totally empty. There were some animals milling about or helping gather more water for her bucket. She hummed tunelessly as she worked, only lifting her head when she saw Lizzie approaching her. "Hey, Liz!"
Lizzie smiled. "Knew I'd find you here." She said, taking a seat at one of the booths. The cushion had a rip in it but it was still comfortable enough. "Need anything?" Sam said, looking up from her work. Lizzie shook her head.
"Nah, Adam's busy, and I needed someone to bother." Lizzie shrugged. "What are you working on?"
Sam placed her mop on the side of the countertop. "Oh, just some spring cleaning! I really don't know why I didn't do this sooner! This place needed it BAD." She smiled. She seemed a lot cheerier than usual, but that may have been due to the half-empty coffee pot she could spot in the kitchen.
"Wait, You're working... on a break day?" Lizzie said with a joking incredulousness. Sam shrugged. "Needed something to keep busy. Plus, I've been putting it off too long. The animals would help but, y'know, no thumbs." She sighed wistfully. "I've been at this all day, and goddamnit, I'm not stopping."
Lizzie took a moment to look around. It was pretty clean, considering it was only 10 AM. She didn't seem to see any of the dust that usually grazed the tables of this place. "This place looks nice, though," She said quietly. "You make a good manager."
Sam just chucked. "Won't be a good manager until I get some customers." She used her telekinesis to pour herself another cup of coffee, adding two spoonfuls of sugar before stirring it. "It'll take time. People will come out of the woodwork someday." Her expression turned contemplative.
Lizzie watched the redhead carefully, trying to figure out what exactly she was thinking of. Her mind was going unusually fast and she had begun to notice Sam's twitching."You, uh, okay, Sam?" She asked softly. The younger girl blinked, then shook her head. "Yeah, yeah. Just thinking." She said, smiling. "Anyway, how's Norma?"
"A bitch, as usual." Lizzie sighed. She took the opportunity to ask, "How's your brother?" Sam didn't respond for a moment. "Better. Since that whole incident with Dr.Loboto." She shuddered.
"God, when I get hands on that asparagus-shaped lunatic I'm snapping him over my leg like a twig." Lizzie chuckled at that last part. "You should've snuck into Sasha's lab when you had the chance." Sam laughed. "Maybe next time."
Sam grabbed the bottle of Windex from the storage closet and a rag, getting to work on cleaning the windows. Lizzie looked away while she did so. There was an awkward silence between them, and the raven-haired punk knew better than to try and fill it.
When Lizzie glanced back at her friend, however, her face seemed to be completely void of emotion, even if there was still a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips and her eye was twitching to a worrying amount. It made Lizzie's stomach turn.
"Sam?" she whispered. "Is everything alright?" The younger girl froze, eyes wide and slightly unfocused. The twitch became more pronounced. Sam tried to speak but failed, swallowing thickly and turning her attention back to cleaning the window. "Are you sure?" She received no response whatsoever, which only served to worry Lizzie further.
"Okay, What's going on?" this time, Sam tilted her head, keeping a blank, half-lidded stare. "I should have washed these windows a while ago..." she muttered in a whispery voice. "You're acting like a housewife high off her ass on painkillers. Don't ask me why I know what that's like."
Sam said nothing. Using her telekinesis to grab her coffee cup and chug it, seeming to perk up a bit as she did so. "Come on, spill." Sam stared at the floor again, avoiding making eye contact with the ravenette. "Don't be stubborn. I can tell you're upset."
"I'm fine."
"Bullshit."
Sam looked up at that, eyes narrowed. "If you're just here to interrogate me, you can leave now." Lizzie leaned forward. "Not gonna happen. Somethings wrong." She glanced over at the many coffee cups in the sink.
"Jesus, how much of that stuff have you drank today?" Sam looked down at the floor nervously. "SAM." Lizzie said sternly. "Like... two and a half pots..." Sam mumbled, averting her gaze. "When did you wake up?" Lizzie said accusingly, crossing her arms across her chest.
Sam looked down. "Yesterday morning," Lizzie swore under her breath, leaning back into the booth. "You didn't sleep at all last night? No wonder you're all hopped up on caffei-"
"Leave me alone, okay!" Sam suddenly yelled. "You don't need to pry all the time! I'm FINE! I CAN HANDLE MYSELF!" Lizzie recoiled back. "I was just saying, staying up all night cleaning isn't healthy," Lizzie muttered, staring intently at the table. She heard Sam sigh. "Just go away, Liz." She didn't sound angry, just tired. "Please."
"I'm not gonna leave you alone, Sam. Somethings up." Sam scoffed. "Nothing is wrong. Nothing's wrong. Everything is fine. So leave me alone, please." Lizzie stood up abruptly, placing her hand firmly on Sam's shoulder. "Tell me what's bothering you right now, and we can fix it together, or whatever."
"Liz, I told you, Nothing wrong. I'm just cleaning. I'm just keeping myself busy." Sam said calmly.
Lizzie frowned. She wasn't buying it. "Sam, you are a terrible liar. Now tell me why you're shaking." Sam clenched her jaw, trying to ignore the feeling of cold fingers gripping her arm. It felt like there was this red-hot feeling behind her eyes.
"Liz, nothing's wrong, I just... I just..." she couldn't finish the sentence. She dropped her head onto the table and groaned. Lizzie knelt down beside her and placed her hands on Sam's shoulders. "Hey, it's okay, you don't have to tell me, I just want to help."
"No, No, Lizzie, nothing's wrong," Sam mumbled into the tabletop. "There is NOTHING WRONG! I JUST NEED TO CLEAN UP FOR A SECOND!" Sam's voice cracked, and she felt something snap in her mind.
A shatter of glass.
A bleed from her nose.
The sounds of popping in her ears.
She sat there. Not daring to look behind her. "JESUS!" Lizzie jumped at the noise. The smell of burning glass filled the air. Sam didn't respond at first. Her eyes were wide as she stared blankly at the blood dripping onto the table.
She felt numb.
The blood kept falling.
She looked up at Lizzie, feeling tears well up in her eyes. "No," Sam muttered. "No, this can't be happening. Not now. Not to me." Sam tensed up, covering her head. "Wha..." Lizzie paused for a second, looking confused. Then she realized what was going on. "Shit."
Sam was shaking. Hyperventilating pretty hard. Lizzie tried to pull her hands away, but she was pinned down, unable to move. "Oh shit oh god oh shit oh god oh SHIT!" Her cries were muffled by the fabric of her clothes. "I-I can't have blastokinesis! It-It was supposed to skip me! Oh god, what are my parents gonna say? Are they gonna send me to that stupid hospital too?"
"Sam..." Lizzie started. She knew how Sam felt about her and her brother's abilities. About her grandfather. And she had heard stories of both of them accidentally blowing up heads. "Sammy... it's not that big of a deal..." Lizzie tried to reason, but Sam was having none of it.
She continued sobbing loudly, pulling her hands away from Lizzie and balling them up into tight fists. Lizzie winced at the sound of her nails scraping against each other. She could see that Sam was in so much pain.
But she didn't know what to do.
Goddamnit, she was a psychonaut! Besides being spies, they're basically fancy therapists! But all the emotions Sam was feeling, the way her thoughts seemed to rush into a flurry of noise, it was so overwhelming. She knew that. But she didn't know how to calm someone down easily. "Sam... please, look at me..."
Sam ignored the call of her name and turned away, burying her face in her knees and rocking herself back and forth, screaming silently into the fabric of her skirt. "Sam..." Lizzie started, trying to put a hand on her shoulder, but was swatted away. "Don't touch me!"
Sam let out another scream, kicking her legs furiously. She pulled at her hair, digging her fingernails into the flesh of her scalp. She curled herself further into a ball, sobbing into her knees. Lizzie tried thinking of ways to make someone calm, Somehow, She remember something.
Emotional projection, Is what Hollis called it. Where you can make others feel the emotions you feel, Sort of like reverse empathy. She wanted to test it out anyways. "Sam, Is it okay if I touch your cheek?" Lizzie asked, holding her hands out cautiously. Sam nodded slowly. Slowly, gently, Lizzie reached out and cupped Sam's cheek before pressing their foreheads together.
Focus on things that made you feel the emotion, Lizzie recalled. The strum of her guitar strings. The ice pops at her Gram-gram's house. Relaxing in the shade by the pond. The warm breeze brushed against her skin. The taste of fresh lemonade in her mouth. Calm.
She repeated that word in her head. Calm. She felt both her and Sam's breathing slowing down, her cries turning into hiccups. Lizzie felt the rush of Sam's thoughts slow down, too, the fear, the anger, the sadness disappearing as fast as it had come. She focused on those feelings and then let go.
The tension left Sam's body, leaving her hunched over slightly, panting in exhaustion. "Sam, you good?" Lizzie breathed out. Sam only nodded, her eyes closed. "Good." Lizzie sighed. "Okay. That was a little more intense than expected. Are you alright?"
"Yeah," Sam mumbled quietly, still clutching her legs to her chest tightly. "Can you get up?" Sam lifted her head a bit, nodding again. "Okay, good." Lizzie stood up, putting her hands on Sam's shoulders.
"Let's go. You take some melatonin and try to get some sleep when we get back to the dorms, Ok?" Sam opened her eyes and nodded weakly, letting Lizzie guide her to the door. As they got out of the lumberstack, Sam stopped.
"Lizzie?"
"Yeah?"
"What am I gonna do?"
Lizzie stopped for a moment at that question. "Well..." She looked into Sam's expectant eyes. "You were just crying and you're probably very tired, so it's not a very good time to think about that right now, I think. The top priority is getting you comfortable. We can talk to Hollis later."
"But-" She started. "Sam," Lizzie interrupted, giving Sam an encouraging smile. "If you really want to know, you can ask me anything anytime. Promise. Just remember that everything will turn out fine. It takes time but you're safe here."
"Promise?" Sam asked tentatively. Lizzie looked into her eyes. It was a bit hard seeing them so filled with sadness. "Promise. And hey, keeping you calm probably lowers the risk of you blowing up someone's head. You said Dogen blew stuff up when he was stressed, right?" Sam nodded. "So it's probably the same for you."
"I guess that makes sense." Sam sniffled. The two of them walked in silence towards the Otto-BON and took it back to the motherlobe. Neither talked as they made their way to the dormitory. They walked inside and Sam immediately collapsed on top of her bed. Lizzie sat on the chair of her desk. "Hey, uh... I'm sorry for prying." Lizzie said finally. Sam glanced at her briefly before rolling onto her side. "I didn't mean to make you cry."
"It's fine," Sam answered, closing her eyes. Lizzie hesitated for a second, before deciding to continue anyway. "Why were you so stressed out about getting blastokinesis?" Sam turned her head away again. "You know how my brother, Dogen, wears that silly-looking foil cap?" Lizzie nodded. "Yeah, well, it's because he, y'know... blew up someone's head. And obviously, my parents freaked. They took him to all those hospitals and doctors for a solution, and well..."
"You don't want that to happen to you." Lizzie finished Sam's sentence. Sam nodded. "Not just that, they would absolutely FREAK." Lizzie sighed. "Sam..." she trailed off, "if you want to talk about it, I'm always willing to listen. No matter what it is. Don't hold back. I love you. And you need to be able to trust me."
Sam sighed heavily, sitting up. She rubbed her temples. "Ok... Wait, Love?" Lizzie flushed, realizing what she said. "I-" Sam cut her off by leaning forward and placing a finger on Lizzie's lips. "Love?" she whispered. Lizzie smiled sheepishly. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that, but.. Yeah," Lizzie replied. "Is that ok?"
"I... Yeah..." Sam responded slowly, smiling slightly. "I kinda feel better already." Sam scooted closer to Lizzie. "Thank you." Lizzie smiled softly and leaned down, kissing Sam softly on the cheek. "Anytime." She got up. "Well, I'll leave you alone, I think. Try to get some sleep." Sam nodded, and Lizzie turned around, heading towards the door. "Wait!" Sam stopped her. "Will you stay with me for a while?" Lizzie blinked.
"...Sure," She mumbled after a moment. "Of course." She said. She climbed onto the bed, laying next to Sam. Sam shuffled over so that she was pressed against her side and buried her face into the crook of Lizzie's neck. Lizzie wrapped her arm around Sam's waist.
They stayed there until Sam fell asleep. Lizzie stayed awake, just stroking Sam's hair. It felt nice to hear Sam's soft, even breaths against her throat. She seemed so calm despite today's stress. She finally felt Sam's mind slow down, falling into a deeper slumber. Lizzie kept running her fingers through her hair, humming softly under her breath.
Everything had worked out. For now at least.
At least it was nice to know she wasn't worried about the future for the next couple hours.