Ashley's silky smooth legs wrapped around Maty's hairier ones as he slept. His hair was stuck to his face due to sweat from events prior. She propped herself up on her elbow, smiling down on the older man while running her fingers through his curls. She pulled them away from his face, fanning them across the pillow. After minutes, he smiled in his sleep, then shifted awake without opening his eyes. Ashley continued tugging softly at his tousled curls.

"Mmm, I like that," he commented softly, sleep on his breath. Neither of them cared.

"What? You like hair-pulling? You kinky son of a bitch," Ash joked back at him. His smile stretched, causing him to crack open his eyes.

"Cheeky. Nah, I just... I like being able to touch you."

Matty raised his hand, running the back of it along the apple of her cheek.

"You're the only person I've ever touched without killing," he said, and although he'd said it a million times, it still struck a chord with Ashley.

She rolled on top of him, still nude from their time well spent. Straddling his waist, she placed one hand on either side of Matty's sharp jawline. Her thumbs reached around to the back of his neck, and her fingertips stroked his face as her palms stayed flat.

"I love you so much," she whispered.

"I am so in love with you," Matty replied. "I would do anything for you. Speaking of, any new messages from our buddy Mr. Shinzo, Halsey? Cute pseudonym, by the way."

"Nope," Ashley answered. 

"Good. Humans aren't gonna get away with what they did to you."

:.:

Ashley let out a loud laugh as she walked home from middle school with her brother. Sixteen days older and sixteen inches taller, Alex placed his hand atop her head.

"You're so tiny," he speculated.

"Height doesn't run in my family," she replied, her heart tugging a bit as she thought of her parents. Years earlier, they had been killed by police when a riot broke out at a Meta Rights protest. Around the same time, Alex's dad had died. Since the two were already best friends, his mother decided to adopt Ashley. It was a perfect fit, and it seemed to fill the void in all of their lives a bit.

Alex noticed the sadness flush through his sister, so he kept the conversation light. "Mine either! Look at Mom, she's your height!"

His attempt was in vain. They continued their trek home in silence until they reached the house. They hadn't even hit the pavement leading to the door before their mom rushed out of it, tears streaking down her face.

"Get inside, now." The two listened to their mother, slamming the door shut behind them. "God, I was so worried about you two! Why didn't you return my calls?"

"What are you talking about?" Ashley asked as her brother inquired something similar.

"Haven't you heard what's happening?" Both preteens shook their heads. "The authorities are going door-to-door checking for metahumans and locking them up. They're going to take both of you if they find you, and that's why we need to be leaving."

"I'm not even a metahuman,' Ashley said, tears welling up in her eyes.

"You are, Ash. It may not have presented itself yet, but it will," Alex said through a wavering voice.

The girl turned to face her mother. "What are we going to do, then?"

"We have to leave. We don't have time to pack, just-"

A loud knock came from the door directly behind them. 'Run,' their mother mouthed, and her children obliged, moving to the highest level of the house and huddling in a corner as she trailed closely behind. The knocking grew louder and more threatening.

"They're not going to go away," Ashley said, wiping her tears.

"They're not knocking," Alex realized as he noticed a pattern to the hits. "They're ramming the door down."

Ashley stood, taking in a deep breath. "I'll turn myself in, you two need to just stay here."

"What the hell, Ash?" Alex asked through a sob.

"They're not gonna leave us alone, 'Zander. They're gonna either take one of us or both of us and I'm not gonna let Mom stay here alone. I'll go. You'll take care of her. Everything will be fine."

"What if we never see you again?" Their mom asked quietly as she clung to her sobbing son.

"You will." With that, she descended down the stairs, waiting with her hands up at the nearly fully destroyed door. Once it was down, men in SWAT uniforms swarmed in.

"She's the only one, let's get her and get out of here," one said as others grabbed her roughly by the arms, pushing her out of the door.

"Where are you taking me?"

"The same place we take all you varmin. You're going to Belle Reve."

:.:

It was after months of abuse in Belle Reve that Ash had discovered her power: rapid regeneration. She had escaped only days before the persecution of metahumans was outlawed by picking a lock and running of dear life. When the guards saw her, they gathered huge blowtorches and attempted to burn her to death or to surrender. And while it hurt, God, it hurt more than anything she'd ever felt, Ashley was healing before scars could even form on her skin. Instead of returning home and risking Alex's safety, she'd fled to another country: Japan.

Rather than replying to her boyfriend, Ash leaned over and pressed a kiss to his lips. They built up a slow, romantic rhythm against each other. After a minute, they separated.

"You deserve this," Ashley told Matty. "You deserve to be loved. You deserve to be happy."

"I am," he answered easily. He hadn't always been, though.

:.:

Matty put his last bag in the truck. After nineteen years of living at home with his mum and nan, he was renting a flat with one of his best mates, Ross. He certainly had the means to do so; his mother had granted him several thousand euros to start his life. As a television host, she had plenty of money to help her deserving son. He grinned as he shut the cab and ran back inside to hug the two women that had raised him.

Matty had never been the feelsy type. When he was young, his mother had warned him against touching others. She said that he was different and that touching people may make them wary of him. So the only people he was allowed to touch were his mum and nan. Both of them even flinched away from his touch, but Mum blamed it on prolonged postnatal depression an Nan always joked that it was because he was smelly. Neither of their explanations made proper dende, but Matty didn't let it bother him much.

His mum stood in the kitchen with a pot in hand.

"Ya leavin' already?" She placed the pot on the stove, and outstretching her arms to hug her son. "I'll miss you, m'boy."

Matty wrapped his arms around his mother. "I love you." After his words were spoken, he felt his mother shift in his arms. He drew away from her. The woman's eyes were glazed over - lifeless. He gasped, dropping her to the floor in fear and shock before backing away, screaming to his nan.

"Nan, something's happened to Mum!" He scaled the stairs to get to her room where she lay asleep. "Nan," he called again, shaking her lightly. The second his skin touched hers, she jolted awake, staring into his eyes as the life left hers.

-

Matty sat at the bar in tears, his eyes fixed on the glass of liquid that he had only recently come of age to drink. After seeing his nan... after seeing her die, he'd just run. He hadn't the slightest idea of what to do, and out of fear, his flight instincts took over. The bartender flicked him with a towel.

"Want me to top that off for ya'?" she asked, Matty wiping his face and nodding.

"Actually," he amended, "could ya just bring me a beer?" He pushed his tequila towards the woman, who turned to retrieve a bottle and an opener. When she handed them both to him, their hands touched, and the woman dropped immediately to the ground.

"Oh, my God," a man called drunkenly. "Someone call 911!"

"Is she okay?" a woman asked, sounding rather uninterested as she clung to a man at least 30 years older than herself. In the midst of the commotion, Matty had left, sitting in his car. He stared at his hands, experimentally touching his own arms. This curse... this... power that he held made him feel surprisingly strong. And he's found that he liked the feeling of foreign skin on his own. With a smirk on his face, Matty turned the key in the ignition wit a destination clear in mind.

After driving for about a half hour, Matty found himself in a naughty, seedy part of town. He stopped next to one of the many girls dressed in nout on the street corner. He unlocked his car door, grinning as she stepped in.

"Hey, there," she purred as Matty pulled off. "You're pretty cute."

The boy only chuckled. "How much you charge, love?"

"Normally I go for about 500, but for you... it's on the house." Matty hummed and nodded as she looked around the truck. "You on the run?" she joked, alluding to all the luggage.

"You have no idea."

"Mmm, should I be scared?"

No response from Matty. The woman only brushed it off with a sultry laugh.

"My name's Eileen."

:.:

After she was gone, Matty took the money stashed in her thin coat: a crumpled 2,000 euros, and fled to another country, somewhere he could start all over. He was there when he saw Ashley, sitting on the street and singing for tips. He dropped 500 euros in her lap, then sat with her, chatting. She was skinny and dirty looking, but still pretty. She was also mature for a 14 year old girl. He learned what she'd been through only two years prior. Before he realized it, he had been sitting with her for over six hours. He took her to get something to eat and then asked her if she had a place to stay. When she replied with a sullen shake of her head, Matty had offered to share his hotel room with her. She slept on the bed while he took the floor near the tele. With his truck packed and a rather hefty bank account, Matty rented a modest studio apartment for him and his friend. It was a month later after a long discussion that she touched his hand for the first time. Although she could feel the pain of his touch, she regenerated fast enough that she was left unscathed. He found himself falling hard for the young girl, only to guilt trip himself for acquiring feelings due to the age difference. He took her out, slept next to her at night, and lived with her, but he wouldn't dare to kiss her or call her his.

Eventually, when she was 15 and Matty was 20, she spoke out on their situation.

"You know you're not a pervert, right? Age doesn't matter. What we have is pure. I love you and you love me. So why don't you some over here so we can kiss like real people do?"

That day, they'd stolen each other's first kisses, and that night, they took each other's virginities.

All those memories flooded Matty's head as he stared at the gorgeous woman hovering above him. "I'm so happy with you. I want to give you the world."

"I don't need the world," she replied easily. "I just need my brother back. And for those bastard humans to pay for killing your best friend."

Matty's eyes nearly filled with tears at the mention of him. "He... he wasn't just my best mate, Ash. George... he was everything."

"I know."

Even with his heart tugging, Matty smiled. "You're my everything now."

Instead of accepting his words, Ash shook her head. "Don't do that. The only place he can exist now is in your heart. Don't push him away to make room for me."

"Well then what if you leave me too? What am I supposed to do then?"

Ashley's grin was devilish. "You see, babe, that's the difference between us and him. We won't have to live through love alone. We're going down in history. We'll live through our legacy."

Hello don't do what they did, this chapter disturbs me peace out.