maskormenacelogs | you caught the light, you carried mine.

[Kylo isn't used to the sense of another presence in the house he shares with Ronan. It isn't that it's unpleasant, exactly, or even particularly intrusive most of the time— it's just there, constantly. A quiet hum on an unfamiliar frequency, a shifting jumble of thoughts and emotions tugging on the edges of his awareness. Murphy. John Murphy, who is and is not Ronan's son. A boy displaced in time and space, but so accustomed to alienation that this most recent displacement is hardly an event at all.
No. It's belonging that unsettles John Murphy.

It's late, and Kylo can feel Murphy moving below. The kitchen, maybe. Perhaps he's hungry.

In need of a midnight snack himself, Kylo peels out from the bedroom and pads down the narrrow stairs, not bothering to turn on the lights— with his extrasensory perception he hardly needs to see after all.

It doesn't even occur to him that Murphy might need to see him to avoid stumbling into him in the dark.]

[ Sleep. It comes and goes, the slightest noise reels him into awakeness. The bed is nice. It's supposed to be his bed and this is supposed to be his room but it doesn't feel like it.

The room hasn't changed yet, still looking the same as it did the first time he went inside. Murphy isn't ready for whatever Ronan can do. He doesn't know how to feel about someone else slipping into his dreamscape. Murphy doesn't even know what his room should look like.

There's a soft humming sound just outside of his room and it has him curious enough to venture out of his room. He slinks down the steps, his footfalls light and silent. By the time Murphy reaches the kitchen, he realizes that he's hungry. Good thing Murphy has been enjoying pizza because that's all there is when he opens the fridge. He takes three. One hangs out of his mouth and one in each hand.

Murphy's about to leave the kitchen when he sees a darkened figure slink into the kitchen. Tall and broad. The pizza is forgotten because Murphy needs his hands free. Punch, ask questions later. He swings his fist. ]

[Those are some fast reflexes, for a pizza-wielding human being. Kylo's, of course, are faster— with the benefit of his abilities he has more than enough time to choose from a number of responses available to him. Dodging, of course. Blocking. Temporarily seizing control of Murphy's body and freezing him in place. Pre-empting Murphy's attack with an attack of his own.

But Murphy is more animal than anything else in this moment, and the oncoming punch is a defense rather than an attack. Any response at all will feed into this blind aggression he's retreated behind.

So Kylo lets the blow land, absorbing the impact to his solid abdomen with a soft hiss of breath. He makes absolutely no further move.]

Murphy.

[...maybe his voice is a little tighter than before.]

[ The familiar voice has his heart surging into his throat. His breath catches in his lungs, stilling himself. He's just hit Kylo, the horrifying realization sinks into his bones.

Murphy doesn't even take a step back.

He stands there frozen and waiting to get punished. He's waiting to get slapped, choked, waiting for Kylo to throw him on the ground, maybe beat his face in. All these likely situations have happened before and those memories are flashing in his mind like a silent film.

But nothing happens.

Slowly Murphy takes the remaining pizza from his mouth so he can say something. He just needs to string words together to make a complete thought. ] I - thought you were someone else. [ Like who? Murphy doesn't know. Just someone else that wasn't Kylo or Ronan. Just some shadowy figure. ]

[Murphy doesn't know it yet, but if Kylo really wanted to, he could rip him apart from his thoughts outwards without lifting a finger. He could destroy him so quickly and completely he'd barely have time to register what was happening.

But another thing Murphy doesn't know is that Kylo recognises the shape of the fear seizing his heart as he waits for judgement. He remembers the horror of realisation in that heartbeat after lashing out, so much clearer and sharper with the reflection of it staring back at him in the dark.]

Clearly.

[He says, dryly. While he's quite possibly incapable of providing reassurance, nothing about his solid, immovable response suggests an impending attack. There will be no punishment today.
His gaze slides past Murphy's face towards the fridge.]

I was going to heat mine up.

[Which... might be an offer? It is admittedly hard to tell, with Kylo.]

[ Murphy could live not knowing the fact that Kylo is capable of such things. Even though Murphy will eventually find out. Just not tonight, hopefully.

But when Kylo doesn't even scold him, Murphy can't help the incredulous look at sweeps across his face. The change is disconcerting, it's something that Murphy isn't used to. For the moment, Murphy lets himself breathe. Slow and shallow inhales and exhales for now. He can still feel his heart thrumming against his chest.

Shit. Kylo reminds Murphy that he's got two slices of pizza laying on the floor. He crouches down, head tipped up to keep his eyes on Kylo's towering figure and scrabbles to pick up his mess. ]

I was just going to take these into my room. [ His attention ticks over to the oven. Maybe if he knew how to work the damn thing. ]

[Kylo watches Murphy's scramble to rectify as much of his mistake as he can with slow curiosity— it isn't part of the pattern he recognises. But why would it be? Kylo's mistakes had always been the moments he let control of his power slip. He'd been afraid of being recognised as the monster he was trying so hard not to be, yes, but he hadn't been afraid of them. He'd always known he was the threat.]

Leave it. [He suggests. Demands. There's very little difference, with those words delivered in the particular timbre of his voice. He opens the fridge, where the pizza has already magically replenished itself, retrieves replacement slices for Murphy as well as a couple for himself, and carries them over to the oven. Microwave. Whatever it is that Ronan dreamt up. He hits the light on the stove hood.] You don't want to eat that, now.

[Obviously. Or at least it is, if you've never had to deal with food scarcity.]

Here.

[And, though he might not be the gentlest with it, he makes sure Murphy can see what he's doing as he puts the pizza in to heat up.]

» MURPHY

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