A Day In The Life of Stephanie (Marcelo)

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie hadn't slept the last night, having spent the whole night finishing up both her papers for school and a policy draft for Shaw Industries, both of which had to be finished and sent off to the appropriate recipients by 8:30 am that morning. Stifling a yawn (it'd been three solid days without sleep and she was starting to feel tired), Stephanie went off to classes, picking up some fast food for breakfast along the way. Classes ran from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm, including one of the many surprise tests that she was fond of giving. The one half-hour stretch she had consisted of delicately balancing shoving the nearest food at hand into her face and engaging in a frantic phone call with Shaw Industries personnel about yet another crisis.

She was also very nearly caught texting in class. But intead of sexting her boyfriend like half of the other students, she was arranging for food deliveries to the shelter.

Immediately after class was finished, she had to rush over to Bistro Provencal to run a job interview for a sous chef there and shortly thereafter, to La Navarra to have a dinner meeting with city officials regarding her plans for expanding the facilities of the 8th street shelter. Soon after that, she was at Shaw Industries, filing paperwork and making sure that nothing else hideously corrupt or evil had in fact transpired that day. Tuesdays and Thursdays were better days for the Shaw Industries work- she only had morning classes on those days and could put more effort into her primary business holdings.

Shaw Industries work more or less done by 3 am, at which time she finally got home, having to find the list of 24-hour food delivery places because she was desperately underfed. By the time she'd eaten, she realized that she had to be up and about for another day in only four more hours and that there'd be no immediate respite until the next weekend.

Marcelo wasn't home- probably on patrol. And Sancho for his part seemed almost hesitant to come near her, as if frightened she was simply going to disappear again.

There was a desperately sad little meow from her furry baby.

That was when Stephanie broke and began sobbing into the substandard Thai food she'd ordered.

I can't do this anymore. I can't. I don't know how I'm going to do this.

Comments

[vesper_verde]

He squinted after that darn cat. Sancho was lucky he was huge and adorable.

"Since... Valentine's Day?" That was the last time to his recollection. Though he had to admit, sometimes his recollection was a little spotty from all the late nights he put in. He put his arms around her when she moved closer.

"Well, that does make a small conundrum. You and your cuddliness are right here. Even if you are wearing yesterday's clothes. Breakfast is out in the kitchen, probably staying warm in an oven." Except the fruit. He didn't think the chef would put fruit by itself in the oven.

[pyroprincess]

"One of us needs to develop telekinetic powers." Stephanie replied softly. "Either that or I'm going to have to think of suitable ways of rewarding you for going out there and getting me that food." Her stomach growled slightly.

Sancho for his part was wandering off, no doubt in search of his own breakfast.

"... please?" Stephanie turned to him with wide eyes.

[vesper_verde]

He gave a soft chuckle and leaned forward to place a small kiss on the tip of her nose. "You don't have to reward me. I'll go get it."

He disentangled himself from his wife and crawled out of bed. He adjusted his pajama shirt and pants once he got his feet on the floor. He went out of the room to gather up hopefully a good breakfast Stephanie liked.

[pyroprincess]

"... since when did you start wearing clothes to bed?" Stephanie asked with some small amusement as Marcelo returned with one of her favorite breakfasts. Hot churros dusted with cinnamon sugar. Stroopwaffels. Hot chocolate that was about as thick as a drinkable thing could be. Fresh fruit.

"... today is starting to look up." Stephanie actually smiled at the sight of the food being brought in.

[vesper_verde]

He paused. Some bit of the truth might work for that question. "A couple months ago."

He'd always had pajamas, but with Stephanie, he had no real need to wear anything to bed. It would get in the way anyway. But recently, he had started wearing them to cover the punishment he put his body through. On the off-chance Stephanie would have come home and noticed the bumps and bruises.

He settled the oversized tray over Stephanie's lap. "I assume this all meets your approval."

[pyroprincess]

"... there's bruises, aren't there?" Stephanie asked with a raised eyebrow. She could think of no other reasonable explanation. "Unless you've gained weight or something and don't want me to know about it." She ran a hand out to feel his abs. "No. Still rock hard."

She didn't go into a long lecture, though. It wasn't entirely fair of her to do that anyway. She did occasional superheroics as well.

"It looks delicious." She took one of the churros and dipped it into the hot chocolate and took a bite. Delicious.

[vesper_verde]

"You know all the weight I gain goes to my butt," he replied. Thankfully, his abs were free of the burning bruises this week. Though she would find those warm spots if her hands went to his sides.

He settled on the bed to watch her eat. He would have some, too, but most of the food on the tray was for her. She could have a head start.

"I told our chef to make your favorites, so looks like she's learned your tastes."

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie was okay with letting it drop now. She needed, desperately, to try and decompress.

"It's a good thing I have dental." She laughed. It was silly of course, as she was a billionaire in her own right and so was her husband. She picked up a piece of chocolate-dipped churro and offered it to him.

"You get to eat too."

[vesper_verde]

"Very good thing," he commented. "I like seeing you smile."

He gave her a lopsided grin. Things were less desperate than last night. That was good. He would have had no idea what to do if that had lingered.

He glanced down at the offered churro then carefully leaned forward to take a bite.

"Mm. I know." He wiped a little chocolate from his lower lip. "But only a third of that tray is for me. I figured I'd get my ogling in before eating."

[pyroprincess]

"Better dig in, or I might eat them all." Stephanie teased as she took a bite out of a stroopwafel. She closed her eyes for a moment in pleasure.

She had no doubt there would be a lot of stress ahead, but for right now, she was trying not to think of anything but the delicious food and the man she was sharing it with. And their furry little baby, who at the moment, wasn't there.

"I'm trying very hard not to think about the outside world. It helps a lot, actually."

[vesper_verde]

"Then I better grab some," he said as he scooted closer to the tray. He grabbed a churro and his mug of cocoa.

He might end up on a sugar high soon. That might not go well. Because he would do something stupid and ruin his wife's day.

"There's no world for you outside of this apartment. So, you're stuck with me." He dipped his churro and took a bite with relish.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie picked up a strawberry and delicately dipped it in some of the hot chocolate, which she licked off of the strawberry before slowly sliding the delicious piece of fruit into her mouth.

"Delicious." She looked at him as she finished.

"Remember, you're stuck with me too."

[vesper_verde]

"Why, Mrs. da Silva, one gets the impression you're flirting with me. Or you have a fetish for chocolate-dipped strawberries." He paused and looked like he was considering.

"Probably the latter." He grinned.

[pyroprincess]

"These are not mutually exclusive." Stephanie replied as she licked her lips slowly, before leaning in to kiss Marcelo, long and sweet.

"Eat up. You'll need your strength. It's been too long since we've had a day together at home.

And I intend to use it to the fullest."

[vesper_verde]

He was very receptive to that kiss. They hadn't... well, that had been a topic for the night before. There was no use dwelling on it when he was trying to move past the abandonment. She was there now. That counted for a lot.

He blinked and blew air out of his lips instead of saying anything.

"You're going to have me rearrange furniture for you?" He knew exactly what she was angling for, but he had to hope a little bit that he could hide what his body looked like now from her a little longer.

[pyroprincess]

She fully intended on making up for some of that absence today.

"Silly boy. If anything, we'll have to buy new furniture soon. We might end up wearing some of it out." Stephanie laughed softly and kissed his jaw and throat.

"But first ... I'm going to finish eating. Because this is too delicious to ignore." She kissed him quickly one more time before going back to her food.

[vesper_verde]

"Oh. Ah heh." He quickly shoved some food in his mouth. Then he was very thorough about chewing and swallowing.

There had been a decided flaw in his plan for his wife to take some time off to relax. He wasn't quite so pretty looking under the pajamas. And one thing Stephanie did do was care and worry about him. And enjoy the physical aspects of their relationship.

He scratched one of his eyebrows as he chewed and tried to figure out a good way around this.

[pyroprincess]

"I'll be getting some better sounds out of you soon enough." Stephanie emphasized the point by eating a strawberry about as lewdly as it was possible to actually consume an item.

There was definitely a serious flaw in Marcelo's plans to make Stephanie relax, because it usually didn't take too long for her mind drift towards enjoying her husband very, very thoroughly.

She reached over to feed him a strawberry this time.

[vesper_verde]

He gave her a little half-smile. He was slightly distracted by trying to figure out if they could be in a dark room. Which would not hide the heat coming off of demon-inflicted bruises.

His distraction from trying to work out something to save the day was interrupted by his wife and her strawberry display. His eyebrows shot up at the display. He shifted on the bed a bit.

No point getting excited when the rest of his body was going to ruin it.

Despite his worries, he did not refuse being fed a strawberry.

[pyroprincess]

Stephanie did realize that he seemed a little hesitant about things. Honestly, she was surprised that he wasn't a little more all over her, considering she'd even started performing for him a little bit.

"If you're worried about how I'm feeling, I'm really much better ..."

She reached over to brush her hands against his chest and felt a strange, unnatural warmth coming off of them. Her eyes opened wide.

"... Marcelo, why do you feel so hot?" It would make sense if it was his brow, though that would have been a terrible fever.

[vesper_verde]

He was a bit slow to reach up and stop her from running her hand over his chest. So his hand hung lamely in the air as his wife felt what he had been trying to hide.

Last night, she probably hadn't noticed because the pit of despair she had been in was deep and cold. This afternoon was a whole different story.

He winced a little. "The... bruises on my body are... not from my typical targets. They're more... infernal in multiple senses. But! Sofia Strange assured me they'd heal up naturally."

[pyroprincess]

"... infernal? Like Hell?"

Stephanie's eyes opened wide. It took her a moment to form anything resembling words and when they did, they came out something between a terrified whisper and an angry hiss.

"... you were fighting demons?!?"

[vesper_verde]

"Or the underworld, but yes." He realized now that was probably among the worst ways to explain it to her. He rubbed the back of his neck.

He was very tempted to slide off the bed and retreat somewhere. Though he stayed put.

"I have been helping the Defenders with demons for the past few months, when I'm not running into mythological creatures or the Blood Cultists of Make Demon Babies."

[pyroprincess]

"Demons."

Stephanie repeated that statement because it bore repeating. She took a deep breath, trying not to simply yell at him like she wanted to do.

"Marcelo ..." In truth, she was terrified, because he was going to get himself killed. She didn't want to say that he couldn't be out there fighting demons but he didn't have the power to do that.

And then she realized something and turned away from him completely, staring at the ground.

He's going out there and getting himself killed because he can't deal with being abandoned by me.

[vesper_verde]

His brows knit together when there was nothing said beyond his name. He'd expected to get yelled at, lectured, something. And then she turned away from him.

He drew in an unsteady breath and blinked away the sting in his eyes. "Isso é foda," he whispered softly.

"Não sei o que dizer." He really didn't. She was shutting down on him. He tried to reach over and touch her.