The X-men run missions and work together with the NYPD, striving to maintain a peaceful balance between humans and mutants. When it comes to a fight, they won't back down from protecting those who need their help.
Haven presents itself as a humanitarian organization for activists, leaders, and high society, yet mutants are the secret leaders working to protect and serve their kind. Behind the scenes they bring their goals into reality.
From the time when mutants became known to the world, SUPER was founded as a black-ops division of the CIA in an attempt to classify, observe, and learn more about this new and rising threat.
The Syndicate works to help bring mutantkind to the forefront of the world. They work from the shadows, a beacon of hope for mutants, but a bane to mankind. With their guiding hand, humanity will finally find extinction.
Since the existence of mutants was first revealed in the nineties, the world has become a changed place. Whether they're genetic misfits or the next stage in humanity's evolution, there's no denying their growing numbers, especially in hubs like New York City. The NYPD has a division devoted to mutant related crimes. Super-powered vigilantes help to maintain the peace. Those who style themselves as Homo Superior work to tear society apart for rebuilding in their own image.
MRO is an intermediate to advanced writing level original character, original plot X-Men RPG. We've been open and active since October of 2005. You can play as a mutant, human, or Adapted— one of the rare humans who nullify mutant powers by their very existence. Goodies, baddies, and neutrals are all welcome.
Short Term Plots:Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
The Fountain of Youth
A chemical serum has been released that's shaving a few years off of the population. In some cases, found to be temporary, and in others...?
MRO MOVES WITH CURRENT TIME: What month and year it is now in real life, it's the same for MRO, too.
Fuegogrande: "Fuegogrande" player of The Ranger, Ion, Rhia, and Null
Neopolitan: "Aly" player of Rebecca Grey, Stephanie Graves, Marisol Cervantes, Vanessa Bookman, Chrysanthemum Van Hart, Sabine Sang, Eupraxia
Ongoing Plots
Magic and Mystics
After the events of the 2020 Harvest Moon and the following Winter Solstice, magic has started manifesting in the MROvere! With the efforts of the Welldrinker Cult, people are being converted into Mystics, a species of people genetically disposed to be great conduits for magical energy.
The Pharoah Dynasty
An ancient sorceress is on a quest to bring her long-lost warrior-king to the modern era in a bid for global domination. Can the heroes of the modern world stop her before all is lost?
Are They Coming for You?
There have been whispers on the streets lately of a boogeyman... mutant and humans, young and old, all have been targets of trafficking.
Adapteds
What if the human race began to adapt to the mutant threat? What if the human race changed ever so subtly... without the x-gene.
Atlanteans
The lost city of Atlantis has been found! Refugees from this undersea mutant dystopia have started to filter in to New York as citizens and businessfolk. You may make one as a player character of run into one on the street.
Got a plot in mind?
MRO plots are player-created the Mods facilitate and organize the big ones, but we get the ideas from you. Do you have a plot in mind, and want to know whether it needs Mod approval? Check out our plot guidelines.
People really were freaking out everywhere. There didn’t seem to be an area that wasn’t a mess, especially closer to the… thing. Juliette ran a hand through her hair quickly, unsure of what to do next. She was just glad that there were other people that she would be able to listen to for calls, since she was a little out of her depth. She looked between Ghost and Jorge, trying to figure out if one of them would make an executive decision.
There was no need, though. Just as Ghost had asked whether there was an incident commander, there was a scream close to the rift. All three of them had turned to look before realizing the same thing: that scream was meant for them to do something about.
They trudged forward, given access to pass the barricades and approached the thing in the sky. It wasn’t something that Juliette would have chosen to approach on her own time, but as an X-Man, she had a duty to protect the city… or something along those lines. Her mind had gone a little bit blank as she stared forward.
It was clear that whatever they were walking toward wasn’t going to be anything friendly. Firefly’s hands lit up with blasts that could be fired off when necessary. She debating switching forms entirely, but she had a limited supply, and it was looking like there wouldn’t be a lot to charge up with. She made the decision to save that eventuality for then it was needed.
Jorge lost step with them somewhere along the way as he used a fire hydrant to get a little bit of water. The stream followed behind him like an obedient pet as he walked a little quicker to be next to the two women. If Juliette had been in a better state of mind, she might have taken some time to note how cool they looked, walking toward their impending doom while displaying three very different powers.
The closer they got to the centre of the action, the quieter things got. Usually, there was the white noise of the city that could be heard at all hours of the day. In that moment, though, Firefly could hear the sounds of her own boots thumping against the pavement. The eye of the storm.
There didn’t actually seem to be a whole lot going on around the vortex, which seemed off. They spotted someone moving up ahead, so Juliette ran up with Jorge to take a look. The nurse in her made her stand as close to the man as possible, but as her eyes registered what was happening, she took a step back.
The man was no longer a man at all. It looked like something taken straight from a horror movie: the shifting features, the way that his bones clicked into new, disturbing positions. The nurse had never seen anything like it, and she doubted that she ever would.
All her thoughts of wanting to save her energy form for a moment of necessity had been thrown out the window. She shifted instinctively and fell a few steps back, her heart pounding in her chest. Whatever they were looking at was definitely no longer human.
She’d made the wrong decision by switching. The creature cocked its head and raised a finger toward her as it stalked forward over the debris-covered pavement. A sound that belonged only in nightmares erupted from its deformed throat and echoed along the empty street. Its eyes were locked on the light mutant.
Firefly’s heart stopped entirely for a good few seconds as it clambered toward her. Why her? She stepped backward in horror, tripping over a piece of metal. She hit the pavement, still in her light form, and attempted to stand up, but was grabbed by a deformed hand. Another creature had been attracted by the light that she gave off. Not even the fact that she was quickly heating up got the creature to let go of her arm. She screamed and shot off a blast at the thing, trying to get it to release her. The blast seemed to do the trick, sending the thing reeling backward.
She stood up, her heart racing as she looked between her teammates. More creatures were crawling toward them from all around the thing in the sky. As if the dark sky hadn’t been enough to put her off the thought of the mission.
To say that Booker made a lot of food would be a bit of an understatement. There seemed to be a never ending number of things that came from various areas of the kitchen, including bacon, some sort of potato dish, toast, and eggs. It had been a long time since Juliette had seen a breakfast of that magnitude.
”Are you expecting more people?” Juliette asked jokingly. ”Seriously. It looks amazing, but I’m afraid that you’re going to have leftovers.” Unless Booker was packing a secret second stomach or something, then they were going to be looking at a lot of extra food.
>>”Oh! Please! I can attest… that it looks far better on you.”
”Thanks,” Juliette said and grabbed at the too-long sleeves of the shirt, ”but I don’t think I can really judge that until I can see you in it.” She grinned tilted her head upwards to kiss him as he leaned down. She liked how natural things between them had become. None of the weirdness of the night before had carried over, and she felt like she could really enjoy time with him.
After being given the okay to make some coffee (a task made even easier with a K-Cup machine), they parted ways in the kitchen. She looked around a bit for mugs until she stumbled upon the cupboard where they were kept. Juliette pulled out two large mugs and set them down on the counter as she looked through the selection of coffees.
The brunette took Booker’s order and made up two mugs, choosing a dark roast for herself. After handing Booker his, she leaned against the countertop again.
>>”Sooo…. Last night… I hope…um… I mean…I had fun. It was…great. I…hope…you know…despite certain events concerning siblings who shall remain nameless…that you enjoyed yourself?”
He was too cute when he was struggling for words. Juliette’s face lit up as she thought through his words. She’d thought that she was making it clear that she was having a very good time, but he still seemed to be a little nervous that she wasn’t.
She set her coffee down behind her and moved over to where he was standing. She stood on her toes and planted another kiss on his lips. ”I…” another. ”Have had…” another. ”The best time…” she fell back down to rest on the heels of her feet and looked at him earnestly. ”Even with the sibling mishap.”
With a wink, she reached behind him and took a tray of food, grabbed her coffee, and walked over toward the table. ”Now. Let’s go eat some food,” she called as she walked away.
Every good thing had to come to an end, and such was the way of their lazy morning. They had stayed like that for a good, long time, but eventually, the two knew that they had to move. If not for any reason other than that Juliette would get very sick if she stayed there with him. It was an unfortunate fact, but if they continued to put it off, it would only get worse.
They agreed that Booker would shower first, meaning that he would leave her alone in the room for a while to recharge. As if coming out of a long snuggle hadn’t been hard enough, she then had to deal with being out of his aura. Juliette hated to let him go, though she couldn’t say that she minded watching him leave. She’d sat up on the bed, readying herself for the feeling that she knew would be coming. Thankfully, there was a large window there with a steady stream of sunlight on her, so there would be energy ready when she was.
As soon as he had left the ten-foot radius, she felt it. A thick, pained noise came from her as she grasped her head. She felt sick. Her power was already working on gathering more energy, though, taking every bit that it could from the sunlight that fell on her.
After she had gained enough to not feel like complete s***, she moved into a meditation position on the middle of the bed and closed her eyes. Staying still in the sunlight always worked best when she needed to absorb lots of energy. She stayed that way until she heard the water shut off, when she finally moved from her position. She’d had enough time to full recharge, to the point where she was almost glowing. There would be no need to worry for the rest of the morning.
After (finally) getting off of the bed, she retraced their movements from the night before and picked up her clothes that had been unceremoniously left in little piles on the floor. As much as it had been fun to forget about them then, leaving them out like that didn’t leave much option for the next day. She hadn’t exactly packed an overnight bag, so it was looking like she would be doing the walk of shame.
The walk of shame didn’t have to happen until she left, though. Before she went into the shower, she made a quick detour back to Booker’s room and stole a flannel shirt, adding it to the pile of clothes that she had accumulated.
Juliette flashed a grin toward Booker as she made her way to the bathroom, clothes in hand. She took a quick shower, taking little bits of the shampoo and conditioner that was there. She wasn’t sure what was Booker’s and what was Nessa’s and she didn’t want to make the woman hate her any more by stealing some expensive hair product, or something. She did the best she could with the rest of her routine, not wanting to disturb anything or use too much product.
A few minutes later, she made her way out of the bathroom, dressed in her own undergarments and the flannel of Booker’s that she’d stolen, which was big enough on her to look more like a dress than a shirt. She padded out to the kitchen and breathed the scent of breakfast in deeply.
”That smells amazing,” she smiled, her eyes closed as she leaned against the kitchen countertop. Was there anything that Booker couldn’t do? Her eyes blinked open a minute later and she looked down. ”I hope it’s okay that I borrowed this. I’ll put my own clothes back on when I leave.”
Juliette couldn’t help but feel a bit useless, standing around as she let him do all the cooking yet again. She knew that that would likely be their dynamic if they ever wanted to eat food that tasted good, but that didn’t mean that she had to do nothing. ”Can I make some coffee?” she offered, ”I can do that well enough.”
The roommates set to work on setting up the fondue pot and the various items that they had to dip into the melted chocolate. It really looked amazing, but she wished that they could have been enjoying it under better circumstances. It hurt her heart to see her friend like that, but she knew that there was nothing that she could do to fix it other than be there for her when she needed her to be.
She grabbed a bottle of wine from the cupboard, a nice red, and set it down on the coffee table with two glasses. She watched with slightly wide eyes as Rebecca poured herself a very large glass, but she didn’t say anything. If she was going to get through the evening better while intoxicated, then she wasn’t going to argue with her.
After pouring herself a glass of wine that had considerably less wine in it, she took a seat next to her stoic friend. Rebecca was usually pretty chatty, at least with Jules, so seeing her only speak minimal words to Gavin was worrying. Something had obviously gone very, very wrong if she wasn’t going to chime in on the fact that the cats seemed to be working in cahoots to get their marshmallows off the table.
The chocolate was more than a little alluring, but her friend was far more important. The floodgates were closed for the moment, but Juliette was fairly certain that once they were opened, they would be in for a pretty intense chat. Rather than digging into any food and giving off the impression that she was more interested in it than her hurting friend, she turned on the couch to face her, wine glass in hand, and waited patiently until she started talking.
>>”Agnes and Ah… we hae bin seein' each other. We've bin... havin' an affair.”
Juliette said nothing for a minute as she blinked, digesting the information. Agnes was the infamous ex that she knew Rebecca still had feelings for. She had admitted to kissing an ex who was engaged at the sleepover a few months back, but Juliette had all but forgotten about it. She hadn’t realized that it had gone even further than that.
The pieces were clicking into place; the late nights out with friends, the secrecy about who exactly she was seeing, and the fact that Rebecca seemed to be dating someone, even though she was single. Juliette hadn’t pressed for the information, since she knew that the redhead was an adult who could make her own decisions. Still, she had been curious all along to know who was taking up so much of her time.
Her engaged ex was taking up her time. Juliette hardly had a leg to stand on, considering the Booker incident, but it was still a lot to take in. She wondered if that was the reason that she and Nessa had broken up.
Those thoughts were kept entirely to herself. She was there to be a good friend and a good friend she would be. Judgement would not be passed, and she would be supportive no matter what. She owed Becca that at least.
”Okay,” she nodded slowly, still processing everything. She met Rebecca’s mismatched eyes and put a comforting hand on her leg. ”No judgement. I promise. You can tell me anything.”
Juliette ran a slightly clenched hand through her ponytail as she walked briskly down the hallway. She was annoyed. She was coming up on the last twenty minutes of her shift, and someone had decided that she was the best person to run a bunch of histories through a computer. Wonderful.
It had been a horrible shift already, since she’d had to suffer through working with her least favourite doctor - the one with the especially nasal voice and tendency to yell at nurses for no real reason. That, coupled with the fact that she had found Bijou running through the stairways and sand in some of the vents had made for an angry Nurse Reyes.
Her black sneakers squeaked ever so slightly as she walked and pivoted into a little room down a side hallway, her eyes facing forward. She was going to get it done and she was going to do it before her shift ended, dammit.
Unfortunately, the computer in that little back room was already in use. A woman with two dark braids sat facing away from Juliette, occupying the one seat that Juliette needed. The nurse’s fists clenched as she stared her down, willing her to get out of the chair.
”Are you almost finished?” Juliette asked after a second. She had barely given her time to get out of the chair, but she was getting impatient. It was clear from the slight sharp tone of her voice that she was in a rush.
A few hours earlier, there had been a rip in the Time-Space Continuum. Yes, that thing. No, it was not some joke from the local comic convention; it was really something that had happened. Smack dab in the middle of the festival happening in Madison Square Park, of all places.
Juliette was already not a fan of the idea that the moon would be covering the sun for a number of hours, prolonging the amount of time that she was without it that day. She had resigned herself to the fact that she could deal with it, though. She would stay inside and teach the class that she was supposed to teach with all of the lights turned on, all the while pretending that it was… just a night class, or something.
Then all the s*** in Manhattan had happened, and the X-Teams were kicked into high gear. She’d gotten her mission, cancelled her class, and changed into her suit. Even before they had left the mansion, she could feel her hands shaking. They had no real idea what they were going to be up against there, but they did know that it was going to be dark and unlike anything that they had seen before. Two things that Juliette did not want to hear.
She took as much energy as she could before leaving, but it was an unfortunate circumstance. Artificial light could charge her, but it would never be quite as good as sunlight, which there was a shortage of. By the time she was ready to leave, she was as charged as she could be, all things considered. All she could do was hope that there would be light sources of some sort on the scene.
She was working with Ghost, who was another X-Woman that she respected a great deal. She was tall, powerful, and thanks to a recent turn of events, a fellow brunette. The one time that she had worked with her had been good, and the majority of the talk about her was good. Other than the rumours about what had happened on her AMA, of course, but those could be looked over. Everyone had their days.
Once the two of them were ready, they took off in the vehicle assigned to them: an orange hummer that was, surprisingly enough, a verified X vehicle. It was a bit flashy, but it did the trick to get them through the traffic that had congested along the streets of Manhattan toward where the incident had occurred.
After stepping out of the hummer, Juliette’s fears only grew. The situation that she was looking at was so, so much worse than anything that she had pictured. A massive thing had taken shape in the street, which she could only assume was the rift. No one knew what had caused it, but already, speculations were flying. All that they really knew was that it was causing disturbances, and it could definitely be used to travel between their world and some other place.
At the bottom of the rift, things looked insane. The festival that had been set up to celebrate the eclipse had turned into some sort of mob, and there was something weird going on with the people there. They weren’t close enough to see exactly what.
The absolute worst part of it all was that it was in almost complete darkness. Most of the streetlights had been blown out by the rift, and although there were a few backup light sources set up by emergency personnel, it was still very lacking. Things would be tough from there on out.
Firefly locked the orange vehicle and stepped away, giving Ghost a weary glance as she did so. Their instructions were to help wherever possible, so the best course of action seemed to be to see what the police still needed doing.
Right off the bat, she could spot an officer that she recognized. ”Jorge?” she greeted, hoping that she remembered the man’s name correctly. It was the man that she had seen in the hospital a few months before. She had seen him around the mansion a few times, but never for long enough to actually say hello. She wasn’t sure what his involvement was with the X-Men, but she was hoping that it would be something that could help them there. ”We’re here from the X-Men to help where the police need.”
The tickling had been a low blow, to say the least. After starting off the morning with a poorly thought out joke, he had used physical means to get her to laugh. Yes, it had definitely worked, but that didn’t mean that she wasn’t at least a little annoyed by the fact that he had essentially ruined a perfectly good wake up.
Once the relentless torture had finally slowed and then stopped altogether, Juliette worked to catch her breath. Her laughter was finally able to stop and form into a smirk. Having stopped flailing and working for air, she turned slightly and punched Booker lightly in the middle of his chest. ”That wasn’t nice,” she stated quietly, feeling a little like a child in that situation.
Well, a little like a child. She was wrapped tightly in the sheets from the waist down, but she still wasn’t wearing anything beneath that, and there were still arms wrapped around her. Booker hadn’t bothered to release his grasp, perhaps out of fear that she would retaliate in kind. She was stuck like that, pressed against him, locked in his grasp until he decided to let her go. Even if she continued to squirm with all her might, she wouldn’t be able to get away. She tried to be angry about that fact, but it was difficult, especially when they seemed to fit together so perfectly.
But, oh, would she get him back at some point.
She was busy plotting her revenge when the kisses began. Any and all thoughts escaped her as soon as they did, replaced suddenly with a deep sigh of contentment and a clear head. She was briskly reminded of why she was more than okay to be wrapped in his arms like that. A happy noise escaped her lips as she closed her eyes again. She was trying so hard to be annoyed at him again, but he was making it damn near impossible.
>>”I’m sorry, I hope...you can…forgive me…”
”I don’t think that I can,” she replied through a slow, thick voice. There was no conviction behind her words. Any thought of sass or acting had been taken over by the feeling of his lips on her skin, and she knew somewhere deep down that she wasn’t going to get that angry feeling back anytime soon.
>>”Will breakfast help?”
She thought through his words for a minute. The answer was an obvious yes, since she was beginning to feel the hunger that usually crept up on her at that point, but she was still oh so distracted. It was his own damn fault, too. How was she supposed to speak or think when he was doing that?
”That depends on what it is,” she answered playfully, finally breaking through the brain fog. Her head had lolled to one side slightly, allowing him better access to her neck. Her eyes were still closed as she breathed in the scents around her slowly. She was actually comfortable again, which she didn’t think would happen after all that squirming.
The morning was crisp and bright and the sun seeped in through the window, making Juliette squint as she sat up in the bed. It wasn’t often that she had to do that. Usually, the sun was what she was most excited to see in the morning, but it was a weird feeling then. It was a nice warm, but it was still different. It was a strange reminder that things were different around Booker.
Things like waking up after a night together. Usually, people greeted one another with some sort of happy, romantic greeting, but that was not the case that morning. Instead, Booker had started things off with a joke.
Once she was finished laughing, she had turned and responded with a comment that would throw things back into his court. Of course, she wasn’t serious, but the only way to combat sass was with more sass. It was one of the laws of nature.
The comment had gotten a chuckle out of him, which was the intent. It was only fair, considering he’d just forced her out of a sleepy, happy daze with an intense bout of laughter. She had been comfortable and content, and there he had gone, throwing that all away for a joke. A funny joke, but a joke nonetheless.
She had turned slightly in the bed, pulling the sheet up with her as she turned to face his new position against the headboard. He looked all sweet and scruffy in the morning light, sitting sort of upright with the sheet just barely covering him. It would have been the perfect image if he hadn’t gone and disrupted it all with a sassy comment or two. It would have been picturesque.
>>”I mean, too late now. No refunds.”
”Darn,” Juliette pouted playfully. ”Isn’t there someone I can complain to? Don’t you have a pimp or something?” Hey, if he was going to start on the idea, then she was going to keep going with it. Even if it was a little weird to be joking about after everything.
She shook her head and stuck out her tongue at him, ready to settle back in beside him for a while. Before she did, though, he offered something else.
>>”But I think I can give you a sample of what you missed out on.”
There was the romance. Juliette closed her eyes and made a quiet noise of pleasure as his fingers traced down her spine. She was definitely ready to go back and join him by then or maybe find out what she had missed out on like he had said.
”That sounds- eiEEE!” she had started to quietly agree before there were arms around her waist, tickling her without remorse. That was a cruel trick. A cruel, cruel trick that was probably going to get him kicked in the process.
She flailed and attempted to get away all that she could, but there wasn’t much that she could do while he was holding her like that. ”Book-ER!” she squealed as she continued to kick, her voice breaking part way through as he hit a particularly ticklish spot. ”That’s n-nOT FAIR!”
As much as she wasn’t about to admit it, she couldn’t deny the fact that she was smiling and laughing even harder than before. Even through the flailing.
Juliette’s slow wake-up was officially over. She was awake and she doubted that she would be able to get back to sleep at that point. The last thing that she wanted to do was move, though. She liked where she was, and it would be weird to get up and wander Booker’s apartment alone. So, instead, she just stayed where she was and busied herself by reading the titles of the books that he had collected on his walls. There were so many that one might have even thought that he was practising to be a librarian (hah!).
Eventually, she had made her way through the rows and she was out of titles. Already, she had a mental list of ones that she wanted to borrow for a time. He really had a good assortment.
Thankfully, she wasn’t without anything to do for long. A few seconds later, Booker began to stir. It took him a moment, like it had with her, to remember what was going on, but after he had, he cuddled in closer to her. Juliette happily went along with the shift, smiling as she closed her eyes again and rested her head in the little nook he had created.
>>”Morning…”
”Mm, morning,” Juliette responded, her voice quiet as she let him adjust to the world of the living. She didn’t like slow wake-ups and lazy mornings as much as she liked getting up early to run, but in this case, the former option definitely worked out best.
>>”You will remember to leave the money by the bedside table, yes?”
Juliette’s eyes blinked open and she tried to make sense of what he’d just said. She was supposed to put… what? That implied that… oh. Oh, it was a joke. A Booker joke that only Booker would say and that only Booker could pull off.
After the words had registered, Juliette stayed still a moment. After everything that had happened the night before, that was the first thing that he had said to her. She was lying against him naked and that was the first thing that he had said to her. It was… hilarious.
The brunette started off with a slow giggle, which descended into hearty laughter as she pulled her hands away to cover her face. She hadn’t slept that long the night before, so that coupled with the absurdity of what he’d just said had caused her to lose it completely. It took her a full minute to catch her breath and stop laughing.
She let out a breath and sat up, turning back so she could look back at him, a twinkle in her eyes. ”You know, if I had known that I was going to be paying for this, then I would have gotten my money’s worth and done the really freaky things,” she joked. Her brown hair hung down to the side as she turned her head to face him, taking on extra honey tones in the morning light.
>>"welll, there's a Aztec god named 'Tontiuah'. He was the god of the Sun -- specifally the Ninth Sun -- and Tollan; the heavens. I think it fits perfectly! I want to get a tattoo of him on my chest when I turn eighteen in just over a month."
Juliette raised her eyebrows at that. There was no denying that Ignacio was a bit of a free spirit, but getting a tattoo on your chest was a big step, especially if it was large. Some part of her felt like she was talking to her little brother, and she almost wanted to protect him.
”That’s cool,” Juliette nodded slowly. He seemed to be more than a little excited about the idea of it, so the last thing that she wanted to do was crush his dreams or make him feel uncomfortable about it all. All she wanted to do was make sure that he was being safe about it and that he was ready. ”Make sure that you do lots of research before you get it done, alright?”
With that, she dropped the subject. It was his life and his skin, so she wasn’t going to tell him not to do it. There was nothing wrong with getting a tattoo, but she wanted to make sure that he wasn’t going to regret anything.
Juliette glanced at her watch quickly and then at the schedule that she had shuffled into her papers. ”Is there anything else you want to talk about before I send you back to class?” she asked. She was there to talk with him, so if he had other issues, then she wanted to ensure that they were addressed.
The passion that Juliette had felt was returned equally by Booker, and before she knew it, they had crossed more lines than before. There was no more weirdness between them. In fact, there was hardly anything left between them at that point. Clothes were tossed aside; they were unnecessary barriers that needed to be removed.
It felt like they were both allowing themselves to be overcome by something that they’d clearly wanted for a while. Were they moving quickly? Juliette didn’t care. She was lost to the world.
The movie had been completely abandoned as the two of them stumbled across the apartment. The closing credits song began to roll as they found their way out of the incorrect room and into Booker’s bedroom. Down the hallway, there was a trail of clothing that had been left behind by the pair. He kicked the door shut, she clicked the light on, and the rest faded to black.
Juliette’s eyes opened slowly and she looked around, blinking the blur of sleep from them as she adjusted to her surroundings. A thin stream of light was coming in from the window behind her, which was her favourite way to be woken up, but as she looked up at the walls, she recognized that they looked very different than the ones she’d gotten used to seeing in the morning. There was also something hard and skin-like under her arm, making it move every few seconds. She was warm and had an unmistakable contented feeling in the pit of her stomach. She most definitely wasn’t in Rebecca’s apartment. She turned her head away from the pillow it had rested on to get a good look at what it was that she could feel under her hand.
A slow smile crept onto her lips as she watched the slow rise and fall of Booker’s breathing. She moved her head slightly to plant a gentle kiss on the tattoo on his arm and then rested her cheek gently against his skin. Yep, definitely not Rebecca’s apartment.
The two of them were tangled up in his comforter, cuddled together at a weird angle on his mattress. Juliette decided then and there that there were few things that would be better to wake up to. She stayed where she was, afraid of waking him before he did so naturally. She did, however, make small movements, one of them being to trace circles along his chest gently. It wasn’t intended to wake him, but it would decidedly not be the worst thing in the world if it did.
A gentle sigh left her lips as she lazily let her eyes open and close again. If the world ended in that moment, she wouldn’t argue. She was perfectly content right there.
Juliette felt impossibly comfortable in that position, with her hand in Booker’s hair, her leg suddenly intertwined with his, and her other hand having moved to rest on his knee. Really, as awkward as things may have been before, they had managed to move past it and proven that there had been no reason to worry. They had real chemistry and no amount of sister intervention was going to quell it.
They were back on the same page for just about everything, and he even seemed to enjoy her reference to the movie that they were ‘watching’. It was difficult to watch a tv screen when there was something much better going on, even if it was playing what was arguably the best movie ever. She would have felt bad about ignoring it if she wasn’t so entirely distracted.
>>”Well...”
He kissed her eyebrow. That was absolutely adorkable. Juliette smiled and closed her eyes as she did, keeping still so as not to ruin anything. Quietly, though, she let out a giggle.
>>”…it’s a good thing…”
Her jaw.
>>”…that I have Miracle Max’s number..."
Her lips.
>>"...on speed dial.”
Brown eyes blinked open to look at him as he leaned back. Her mouth was stuck in a wide grin as she watched him carefully. ”A very good thing. But, oh, what I wouldn’t give for a holocaust cloak,” she quoted. The quote was completely irrelevant, but she was on a roll and it had just entered her ears a second ago as the three heroes were working on storming the castle on the screen behind them.
Her hand moved from his knee to under his jaw, where she gently traced her fingers over to the back of his neck. Once she had settled on a place behind his head, she pulled him a little toward her so that she could meet his lips with hers. The situation felt right and appropriately familiar. They had moved past the weird and seemed to be reaching the place that they had been at before.
She pressed her lips enthusiastically to his, wanting to be closer still. She didn’t feel bad about pushing or making sure he was okay with the situation anymore. As far as she knew, they were on the same page, and toeing the line until one of them got annoyed seemed a little counterproductive. Instead, she traced her hand down his chest once again.
With her other arm, she moved the bag of veggie straws out of the way. There was no reason that they needed to be caught in the crosshairs.
A few weeks ago, Juliette had found herself very suddenly without a place to stay. Of course, the decision to move out had been a voluntary one, but she really wasn’t looking to continue living across the hall from her ex-boyfriend, especially if they were going to be seeing other people or if she was going to be seeing him drinking again. It was only salt in the wound.
She’d gone back to her room, intent on staying there for good and getting out of Rebecca’s hair, but going back was too hard. She’d stepped into her room, taken a look at her things, and decided that she wasn’t going to be moving back anytime soon. So, she’d gathered her things and her cat and lugged them all to Rebecca’s apartment, where she’d received the invitation to stay as long as she liked.
In all honesty, the place was starting to feel like home. Juliette was well used to living on the road and moving from place to place every few months, but she’d enjoyed being able to put down roots in New York. It still felt good to move and start fresh like she’d done with her mom growing up, but it was awesome to be able to move somewhere that she already had friends and was going to be living with one of her closest ones. All around, it was a good situation.
Other than the fact, of course, that Rebecca was drop dead gorgeous, and seeing her in just a towel on a regular basis had been something that she needed to wrap her head around.
That wasn’t to say, however, that Juliette didn’t feel bad about intruding on the redhead’s space. While she was letting Juliette essentially move in, it was still her apartment, and she was doing a lot for her. The brunette felt an overwhelming need to help in whatever way possible in order to make up for it, and since she couldn’t cook, she had taken to cleaning… almost obsessively.
She had headphones in her ears as she passed the vacuum over the carpet, keeping an eye on Bijou and Gavin as they licked each other. Having already met in the shelter, the cats got along like a house on fire, and being back in the same place had only deepened the bond. Rebecca and Juliette even went as far as to suggest that they were “cat lovers”.
Out of the corner of her eye, Juliette spotted the door opening. It was strange to see; from what Juliette remembered of Rebecca’s schedule, she was supposed to be out with a friend all night. If she was coming in that early, then something must’ve gone very wrong.
Quickly, she took the headphones out of her ears and clicked off the vacuum, walking to the other side of the room to greet her friend (and now roommate). As she approached, she could see the tear stains and water that welled up in her eyes. Yes, something very bad had just happened. Juliette gave her a sad look and took the items from her hands, dropping them down on the counter before really giving her a good look.
”Becca…” Juliette breathed, her brow furrowed apologetically as she pulled her friend into a hug. She so, so owed her for when she’d done the same thing for her, so Juliette was resigned to being the best possible friend for her. Whatever had happened, she was going to be there for her. ”It’s a ‘thing’ now,” she replied as she stroked the woman’s red hair.
Like she had planned, she had made Booker sad by pretending to leave. It was more than a little mean to do that, but the opportunity had been too good to waste. She knew full well that he would get her back for it (likely much worse, since he had a sister to practice on), but it was worth it in that moment. She would likely just hate her current self and her poor decisions later down the line.
She hadn’t been able to keep the joke going for long, since, well, she really didn’t want to go anywhere, and she didn’t think that she could walk much farther before wanting to turn around and join him again. Instead of making herself do that, she had turned around and given herself up with a smile.
Booker was able to then respond in kind, refusing her the visitation rights that she’d asked for. With a grin and a shake of her head, she’d simply sat back down and admitted the truth: she wasn’t going anywhere for a while. So long as he was okay with that, of course.
”Sounds like I’m going to have to stick around for these, anyway,” she pointed out as she took a veggie straw from the bag and popped it in her mouth. She gave him a grin and wrinkled her nose after swallowing and added, ”since you’re going to be keeping them here.”
>>”Well… darn. I guess that means I’m just going to have to deal with you.”
”Horrible. Absolutely horrible. Who would subject you to such a terrible thing?” Juliette teased as he moved even closer to her. She did not object. In fact, she did the same thing, moving her legs closer to his and using her foot to move down his calf. The closeness was addicting, just as it had been before.
Her hand had moved slightly from the end of the couch to the top of Booker’s head, where, distractedly, she pushed a stray piece of hair from his forehead. She kept it there rather than moving it after she was finished fixing the piece. Instead, she played with his hair lightly, watching the light change it from brown to honey as she ran her fingers through it gingerly.
>>”I guess there are worse fates.”
Juliette grinned at his joke. ”Like R.O.U.S.es and The Pit of Despair,” she pointed out, referencing the movie that was still playing in the background. ”I suppose that you could be mostly dead, too. It’d be awfully difficult for me to straddle you that way.”
The more they talked, the more comfortable they became again. It was almost seeming like the blip with Vanessa hadn’t happened, and they were back to where they were. Maybe even in a better place.
As Juliette began to fill in the gaps, Booker’s eye lit up in recognition. Her relationship with Becca suddenly became more apparent and obvious than before, and he connected the dots. It hadn’t actually taken him long, but without a point in the right direction, Juliette knew how it could have taken a while to figure out. It was a smaller world than people often assumed, and it was usually harder to realize the fact that two people you knew knew each other than it was to have someone point it out for you.
”Exactly,” Juliette nodded slowly as he pointed out the connections aloud. She was almost bracing herself for a second scolding like the one that Vanessa had given her. She really wouldn’t blame him, either. The kiss in the rotunda shouldn’t have happened, and now she was giving them both even more reason to think that she ran around doing that sort of thing all the time. So, she did her best to set the record straight.
>>”Again, I’m…completely sorry that she did that to you. She really had no right, protectiveness or not. And…for what’s it worth…I didn’t think you were going to do that to me.”
To her surprise (and general delight), Booker didn’t look angry or ashamed of her. In fact, he looked apologetic and seemed to feel bad about his sister’s actions. It was more than Juliette had hoped for, in light of everything. ”You’re a good guy, Booker,” she smiled lightly and put her hand on his knee gratefully.
Booker was understanding, kind, and forgiving. Not to mention that the meal had been amazing, and he still looked so good in that shirt. It was sort of hard to believe that someone like him even existed in the first place and was single. He was…
He was screaming into the pillow?
Juliette had gotten a bit lost in thought, and when she checked back into the world of the not-dreaming, Booker had turned around and was making muffled noises into the pillow behind him. It looked like he was still feeling bad about the whole situation, even though she’d made her peace with it. She rolled her lips in but didn’t do anything, not wanting to interrupt him before he was finished.
>>”So…I know we said this the first time we went out, but, seriously, if you wanted to run out the door screaming due to my insane family, feel free. I doubt I’d blame you at this point. But I’m keeping those. I don’t care what you say.”
There it was; her opportunity to get him back for his comment earlier. Juliette saw her opening for a slightly insensitive joke and, dammit, she took it.
Slowly, she took her hand back and set it in her lap as she turned forward to face the wall. With a sigh, she stood up after a minute, as if signalling that she was going to be leaving. She stood still for a second to make him sweat and then turned back around and pointed to the bag of veggie sticks. ”I want visitation rights,” she joked, keeping her face as straight as she could manage before she broke and her face was overtaken by a wide grin.
She flopped backward onto the couch, closer to Booker than she had been sitting before, and snaked her arm around the back of the couch. ”No, sorry. I’m a little harder to get rid of than that.” Wasn’t that the truth? She already had a track record of staying through tough relationships. ”I’m sorry if that ruins any dastardly plans to make me run for the hills.”
More than anything in that moment, Juliette wished that they could be like they were before Nessa came in, but she wasn’t sure if Booker was still thrown off his groove. She decided that it would be best to wait until they were definitely on the same page before she moved any closer than that.
