— chapter seven. 

❛ deimos. ❜

THERE WAS SOMETHING SO STRANGE, about their new roommate.

Well, there was a lot of 'something strange' about him. Madeleine Delacour wasn't stupid, even if she liked to live in the dark. She could see the red flags practically waving her down every time James and her crossed paths — which wasn't really at all, to be sure, but it had still happened. And every time it had, she was left wondering just who Theona's friend really was.

He was quiet; and past that, he was too quiet. Not in the respectful, introverted, 'I don't enjoy small talk' way, but in a solemn manner. A grieving manner. He never left the guest room, save when Theo forced him to, and when he did he was absolutely silent. He didn't eat with them, avoiding all social gatherings even if it was just her and Theo. Instead, her roommate left his meals outside his door, and brought the tray out an hour later, telling her 'James says thanks'. 

And the gloves...those threw her the most off. She asked Theo about it, but she played dumb, like there was anything else she could be talking about than the man who clung to worn leather gloves like they were his lifesource. The rare times he was around, Mae always kept watch of his hands. Watched them in fists, flexing, waiting, like any second he'd have to plunge the black coated limbs into a body, like he only ever wanted to—

—a knock interrupted her monologuing thoughts, barely audible over the monotone weather report read over her radio. Madeleine huffed and closed her notebook, sticking her pen in to keep her place. Her list was safely hidden. Not that she was necessarily trying to be secretive...but making a tally of all the weird things her roommate's ex-cousin/friend/maybe something else thrown in there because there was definitely something weird about their relationship was up to definitely wasn't something she wanted Theo to see. Not yet at least.

She turned off the radio.

"Hey," she called out in acknowledgement. The knob turned and Theo flung the door open, ever the lover of dramatics. "What's up?"

"Our TV's on the fritz."

Mae's lips curled down slightly. "Hm?"

Theo wore a heavy scowl, a scowl that only suggested one thing. Her roommate wasn't a lover of much pop culture, but she did absolutely adore Law and Order: SVU. So much so that if her time with Olivia Benson and co. (Mae never remembered all the characters, only that Ice-T played one of them) was interrupted...well...

"The damn thing won't turn on," she griped. Her arms were crossed and her chest was heaving, signs that she had probably been fuming at this for a while. "I've been slappin' the thing around for aeons, but—"

"—slapping it probably will not help," Mae said, teasing slightly.

But Theo wasn't having it. "I've spent twenty minutes tryna' get it to work. I googled it, tried to troubleshoot, but it just — it's just not working!"

"Um. Okay."

Her friend huffed. "You got any ideas?"

"No," Mae answered honestly, because her time with the television was far and few between. The screen gave her headaches; she only leaned on the thing when Theo absolutely insisted that she had to watch some high-budget, flashy action flick that was only good for inciting vertigo. "Just call a repair guy? I suppose?"

"I don't wanna waste the money on some asshole to overcharge me!"

"Well, I don't know any other way around it. I — did you ask James? Maybe he can help."

For some reason that was absolutely hilarious to Theo — so much so that the second James left Mae's lips, she started cackling, howling as she leaned against the door frame. She was left to just stare as she lost her mind at a joke that wasn't even a joke.

"I...did not realise that was so funny," Mae muttered quietly.

Theo sighed out her last peals of laughter, finally straightening up again. She was still grinning. "I'll just call someone. Thanks, Mae-baby." She turned to leave, but immediately whirled back around. "Uh, wait?"

"Yes?"

"Do you...happen to know where my phone is?"

"No, Theona, I don't. Consider it's yours, and not mine..."

Theo rolled her eyes. "I just meant, had you seen it anywhere? I, uh, seemed to have misplaced it. Again."

"Again," Mae said teasingly. A small smile kissed her lips. "You might as well kiss that thing goodbye, you never know where it is anyways."

"Oh, piss off, Mae-baby. I know exactly where it is, I just—" Theo paused, looking pained. "I know where it is, but if you can just, maybe call it? So I know I left it...where I know I left it."

Her smile grew. "One of these days your habit of misplacement is going to kill you, you know."

"Ha, ha," Theo coughed sarcastically. "You're such a comedian. Your weaponization of humour is incredible. Now, if you please...?"

"Fine." She slid her notebook to the side and got up, leaving her small desk for her bed. She had left her phone on it charging. It was a Sunday, and no one was going to need to call her that was important. She didn't really need the device anyways, so—

Once more, Mae had to pause her inner thoughts, that time interrupted by her own self. "Huh," she murmured, phone in hand. She glanced down to the wall to see the charger plugged in, everything perfectly fine. She looked back to the phone...with the plug attached and unharmed. "That's...odd."

"What's up?"

"Um..." Her fingers found the 'on' button again, pressing over and over. Nothing appeared on the screen. Not even the tell-tale decal telling her the battery was too low to turn on right now. Not even when she held it down did anything happen, like... "my...phone's not turning on."

"What?!"

"It's fine," she said quickly, even as Theo snatched it from her hand. "It's probably just a charging issue, really it's—"

"—fuck."

All of the cheerfulness from before, all the teasing smiles and remarks, had vanished. The room was stony and tense, and Mae felt like she could taste her friend's worry, even if she didn't understand where it had come from. The look on her face, the way her brows furrowed so dark over her pretty eyes, didn't sit well with her. It almost reminded her of just a couple days before.

"What's...going on?" She tried, tentatively.

Theo glanced over to her, frowning heavily. "Where's your laptop?"

"Um, m-my bag. Why?"

She didn't answer. Instead, she dropped the phone to the bed and headed straight for her workbag. Without hesitation — and ignoring Mae's quiet protest — she began rummaging through it. "I — gotta — ah, fuckin' hell."

"What?!"

"It's done too," Theo said solemnly, dropping the laptop to the floor like it was useless. And, Mae supposed, with her accusation, it might just be that. "Do you have any other tech?"

"No, just — just that. Why? What's going on?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Hey, you don't get to say that, not after—"

"—it's nothing, Mae-baby," Theo assured her, though her tone and the way her lips twisted told her that it was absolutely not nothing. "I'll get it fixed. Might just be a power issue."

Something bloomed in her chest, something harsh and red-hot. She didn't recognised its taste, only that she wanted to throw something. Maybe scream. 

"Theona, you don't get to play that game with me, not after what happened Friday night. I deserve to know what's going on here."

"Christ, Madeleine, I don't know!"

Mae paused.

Theo stared down at her, eyes flashing with something she couldn't quite read. She was only just taller than Mae, but at that moment, it felt like she was towering over her, leaving her cowering in her friend's wake. 

"I don't know," she said shortly. "I'm just as lost as you are. Okay? I — Jesus."

She searched her face for lies, or answers, anything that could explain something. But her eyes came up empty. Mae's hands twisted in the fabric of her sweater, tugging at soft cashmere like it was nothing. 

Something felt off. But her mind wasn't calibrated to understand everything it felt, nor was it made, anymore, to think through the clues laid in front of her. The accident left her with little storage space and no access to the locked up answers. So where maybe others could solve the problem ahead of her in seconds...Mae didn't know what to do. Or think. Or say, to make her friend not yell at her again like that.

"Okay," she said quietly. "I...should I be worried?"

Theo smiled at that. But it wasn't real. "Nah, Mae-baby." Her voice was just barely strained. Most people wouldn't catch it, but after knowing someone for almost a decade, you learn to pick up every flaw. "It's probably just a power issue. I'll figure it out."

She stared up at her.

None of it made sense.

Not just the stupid power, though that was probably one big catalyst to the confusion. All of it.

Everything had to add up to something. Two plus two equaled four. Cause and reaction. Or, cause and effect, cause and solution, cause and — fuck, now even the stupid saying wouldn't finish in her head. It was all screwing up, all the boxes she had organised so neatly were undone and lost, and she wasn't sure where to even start looking for where she left things. And the strange things that kept happening around them, they were just leaving her further and further into the dark.

Before Mae could ask, and perhaps it was smart she did not get the chance, a loud, shrill ringing sound came from outside her room. She looked up to meet Theo's gaze, only to find her already turning towards the sound.

"I thought—"

"—hold that thought," Theo said sharply, and pushed right past her. Mae was only left to follow behind like a lost puppy as her friend raced towards her phone, a device she had only assumed also wasn't working. But it clearly was fine, considering she could turn it on and answer the mysterious caller with a sharp, "Theona Chavez. Who the hell's this?"

Theo stiffened.

Mae's frown deepened.

"Who—"

"—what do you want, Abigail?"

"Abigail?!" Mae whispered-hissed. "My sister, Abigail?"

Theo ignored her. "Her phone is probably off. I—" she paused again, shoulders rising like a cat would its hackles. "I'm sure there's a mistake. There's—" clearly being interrupted was getting to her, judging by the foul look on her face. But still, dully, she allowed it. "Yeah. You can speak to her, your majesty."

Mae didn't have to ask again who it was; Theo's face was confirmation enough. She took the phone carefully and lifted it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Madeleine, thank God."

"What's wrong? Why are you calling Theo?"

"Well I wouldn't have to, if your phone wasn't out of service. What the hell are you playing at?"

"I...what? No, it's not."

Abigail hummed in annoyance on the other end. "Do you think I'd just be calling to waste my time on a trivial joke? I'm being completely serious here, Madeleine. What did you do to your phone?"

"I-I didn't do anything, there has to be, be some sort of mistake, 'cause—"

"—I'm going to call the phone company and figure it out then, if you don't know what's going on. If they can't fix it, I'll set you up with a new device."

"What?! Why? Abigail, I can just figure this out myself."

"And have you without a phone? Absolutely not. It's not safe and I don't like the idea of you just traipsing around that city without methods of communication."

"I'll buy my own I-I don't even know if I need to! I-I think we just need to think through things here."

"That will take too long, and I hate the idea of checking on you through your abysmal roommate." The disgust in Abigail's voice practically dripped through the phone. "No, it will be fine. And — actually, I have a spare phone I can just send. Can't believe I forgot about that."

Okay, now it was just getting ridiculous. "I don't understand. How do you have a cellphone just waiting for me?"

"What a weird coincidence. My company provided me with a new device, a fancy Samsung model, when I joined them, but of course I had no need, considering I had my own already. I was going to give it away but if you can use it — perfect. I'll send it to you today. Express shipping should get it to you by Tuesday."

"Abigail, stop."

"Stop what?"

"I — this! I don't know what you're doing but I don't need it. I'll figure it out, and I'll get my own phone. You know, like a real adult?"

Abigail sighed, and when she spoke again, it was quite patronizing. "I know you know what you're doing, Madeleine dearest. I am just taking advantage of the situation and giving you a gift, you don't have to take it as a sign of mistrust. I have never doubted you in the slightest, you know."

Well, she knew that wasn't true. In the slightest, as her sister so put it.

"...tomorrow." She tuned in only for the last word of whatever her sister had been saying. "Is that alright, Madeleine?"

"Yes," she said numbly. "Okay. Thank you, I-I suppose."

"Of course. You're welcome. Now, in the meantime, will you be alright without one? You could always take the day off and—"

"—Abigail," she interrupted, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Please, let me manage my schedule."

"I just don't like the idea of you going around in that big city without something!"

"We're going to go to check out the issue. Theo just thinks it's the power; it might just fix it."

On the other end, she could hear her sister practically gnashing her teeth in frustration. Maybe mentioning Theo wasn't the best move...but Mae was at her wits end. "Theo doesn't know what she's speaking about. She never has."

"Abigail, please."

"Don't 'Abigail, please' me. You know and I know that that," the woman on the other end paused suddenly, like someone had came and clamped her lips shut. "A conversation for another day. Be safe, please. Call me in an hour once you've worked out your circumstances; I'll send Theona the mailing information so you can track the phone. Alright?"

"You don't have to treat me like a little kid, you know."

"That's kind, Madeleine. Updates later. Alright?"

"No, but—" the conversation got cut suddenly by a dull click on the other end. Mae pulled the phone from her ear to frown at it. She glanced up at her friend. "She hung up."

Theo scoffed. "Fuckin' surprise there. What'd she say?"

"That she's sending me a new phone. And that she doesn't trust you, but that's nothing ne — are you listening, Theo?"

It was very obvious that Theo Chavez was not, in fact, listening. Her brows were furrowed and she had seemingly shrunk back, muttering to herself in the sort of manner Mae imagined a mad scientist would.

Her head hurt. She drew back, stumbling over to her small radio by her bed. With quivering fingers she broke the dam she'd used to silence the radio before, letting some stranger's voice ring through the small bedroom.

But it didn't help. It wasn't enough. She was still drowning, there was still too much outside interference. They wanted answers, to dig holes into her brain and seek out whatever knowledge she had secreted away in the tunnels that hadn't been flooded. But there was nothing. She, Madeleine Delacour, traumatized, broken, incapable of anything, anxious, dependent, thoughtless, stupid, childlike, desperate excuse of an adult, had nothing.

Slowly, she turned the sound up, staring at the small device. She didn't want to hear anything else.

Theo left a minute later. Mae didn't ask where she was going. She just waited, stock-still beside the radio, because she knew that her roommate would be back to give some excuse or another in a little while. 

And because she didn't want to try and come up with a thought herself.

Sure enough, Theo returned. 

Mae didn't really know long; she wasn't even really sure if she had taken a single breath, in time she was alone, because there hadn't been a single thought that had gone through her mind.

She gave Mae a wry smile, one that wasn't returned. "Can you turn down the music?"

Sullenly, she did as told.

The woman's rueful expression tightened. She rubbed her chin. "Thanks. Uh, so...sorry, about that. I got overwhelmed. Stress is a bitch. Work's also that. I'm sorry. So..."

"It's fine," Mae said softly, twisting her fingers up. She wanted to sculpt a rose out of them. "What do you need?"

"I...can I ask a favour?"

"A favour?"

"Yeah. Unrelated, slightly, to all this. It's really crappy timing, I-I just..."

Mae didn't like the sound of that. But despite the logical part of herself saying, 'maybe you should not and push your shady roommate a little bit more, you doormat', she hummed out a reluctant, "what?"

Theo shrugged, a funny sort of light in her eyes. She smiled wider. God, it was awkward.

"I need to get James some new clothes. And I keep putting it off, because I just run out of time or interest or the stupid idiot insists it's hygienic to just wear one thing all the time — he's the worst, by the way. Fucking hate his ass. But, point is! The guy needs new threads."

Mae blinked. She tried to wrap her head around what her roommate was asking. Not because it was super outlandish, it wasn't an insane or difficult request...although she hated malls, and going to new places, and not knowing what she was doing, and she'd never bought men's clothes before...and okay maybe separated from all the crazy of that Sunday morning, it was an insane, and difficult, request.

"Why can't you do it?" she asked, fumbling with her fingers. "Isn't he...your cousin in law?"

Theo shrugged. "Ex. Sure. But I wanna get ahead of this tech issue, before your damn sister sends the entire apple store on our asses. Which I have no doubt, she's already planning, that twisted—"

"—still my sister," Mae reminded dully, "and if you're going to ask favours, you better not lead with insulting her."

The woman huffed. "Right. You're right. She's got g-good," she made a funny face, like that word tasted sour on her tongue, "intentions. Great woman."

"Slightly better."

"Can I ask this favour of you now, please? My best friend, my darling roommate, the light of my life, the peanut butter to my jelly? The toaster to my bathtub?"

"What?"

"What?"

Mae sighed. It wasn't hard to see where the day was going.

Forty-seven minutes later she was at the mall, frowning at the entrance of the first store she had found for guys. Technically it wasn't for men, only. Urban Outfitters looked unisex. But it was the least daunting (the others reeked of sharp, overwhelming cologne and made her feel like a horror movie's to-be victim) and at least she was vaguely familiar with the store.

Madeleine did not shop often. Not for clothes. And not in a casual, 'just browsing' fashion. There were four stores that she knew her exact sizing with, and a couple times a year, she would purchase five to seven sharp, professional items to put in her closet. Sometimes Abigail would buy her clothes, too. Brand names she didn't know. Didn't really care about. But she always wore them, even if she felt awkward in the pretty pieces, like they were not really meant for a girl like her.

She bought Theo clothes, sometimes. Nothing fancy; a soft scarf, a pair of sensible loafers for work. Once she got her a sky blue sweater that Abigail had called ugly a couple weeks before — and Theo had loved it. But that wasn't anything like the daunting, foreign task ahead of her.

Mae gulped, glancing at the paper in her hand. Measurements had been messily scrawled on it, along with a list of requests. Theo had also handed over a pile of cash so liberally, it honestly shocked her. Told her to go wild and enjoy herself. To take her time.

She didn't have to be an idiot to know that meant, she wanted her out of the house for as long as possible, for whatever reason. 

Truth be told, Mae didn't want to care, even as she did. Selfishly she wanted to exist in the bubble of a good Sunday, where everything was fine and it was all still perfectly normal. So, she had made the executive, perhaps foolish decision to leave the thinking for Monday. She'd figure everything out then.

For Sunday, she'd plug her earbuds into her ancient mp3, somehow not ruined by that strange tech issue, and blare violin loud enough so she couldn't comprehend a single thing, and buy a strange man some clothes.

A grown man she had never had a conversation with. Or knew really anything about.

Incredible.

A hand waved in the corner of her eye. A tall, lanky boy, probably still in high school grinned awkwardly at her. He mouthed something she couldn't hear over The Phantom of the Opera.

She looked away. Back to the list. Mission, Mae reminded herself, squinting at the paper. 

Finding clothes wasn't hard; she wasn't really going for Vogue covers, just something the stranger in her guest bedroom could wear. Shirts, jeans, a set of pajamas. She found a hoodie and a rather overpriced denim jacket at Theo's request, too. Images hovered at the edge of her vision but she tried to block it out, tried to just keep walking, dammit, in and out and back to the safety of her home.

Mae didn't think about whether or not that was safe anymore. That was a Monday thought.

Instead, she reached into her small crossbody and pulled out the other thing Theo had given her. Out of the mystical work bag she lugged everywhere, her friend had grabbed a small Blackberry and handed it off to her. For emergencies, she stated triumphantly, until she can figure out what's going on.

She sighed and slid her earbuds out so she could listen to the old phone ring. "Hey," Mae said, the second Theo's charming tone picked up. "I've got three t-shirts, a long sleeve, a hoodie, three pairs of jeans, pajamas, a pair of slacks, and some sort of jacket. Anything else?"

"Uhm...hm. I — one second." Something made a funny clang noise in the background of the call, then there was a dull 'bang' that made Mae frown. "Uh, sorry. Dropped my mug. That's fine. How long will you be?"

"What was that?"

"What was...what? The mug?"

"That didn't sound like glass shattering."

Theo hummed. "It was my thermos. Not like, a ceramic thing. Sorry."

"I—"

"—how long're you gonna be out, Mae-baby?"

Her ears ached for more simulation. Her brain hurt from lack of use. Mae bit her lip, glancing around. 

"I-I don't know. Maybe forty minutes more."

"Okay. You okay taking a cab home?"

"I," she sighed, wishing more and more she had just said no to the stupid ordeal. "Yeah. I'm fine. See you soon."

"Be safe, please. Text when you're close."

"I — Theo?"

At her friend's questioning hum, Mae ducked into an empty section of swimsuits, pressing back into a couple racks of spandex. Her nails scrabbled at the strap of her crossbody, wishing it had something more to dig into. Rip apart.

"You're not keeping anything from me, r-right?"

"Huh? Like what, Mae-baby?"

"Well, like...this is all really weird? Right? And you're being kinda weird, and just the stuff with your cousin, I-I just want to make sure that—"

"—hey, hey, please don't panic. You're okay." Theo coaxed on the other end of the line. "I swear, everything is okay. And it is going to be okay. I don't know what happened but I'm guessing it was something with my devices, honestly. My friend," she made a strange coughing sound, "Greg was messing with it. He's a techie and I think he screwed stuff up. I don't really understand it, heh."

"...oh."

"I'm gonna bring everything to him tomorrow and see if he can work this out because I'm betting all the money in the world, he made the problem in the first place. He's weird like that. Otherwise, you know, we'll see if there was an issue with billing because maybe something just went wrong there. I don't know; it was a strange Sunday happenstance."

"O...okay."

"It freaked me out and so I was shutting down because I didn't know how to communicate; that's on me. But I swear, nothing is wrong, I'm not upset or stressed and neither should you be, or your crazy — uh, I mean, overprotective sister. Okay?"

"Okay," she repeated, feeling more like a broken record than a human being.

"Love you, Mae-baby. Stay safe."

She hung up without saying anything more. Maybe that was petty but, to hell with it: Mae was long since past worrying about being petty.

Mae scowled and shoved the Blackberry into her bag. She hurried over to the counter and dropped the collection of clothes onto the counter. 

A different, but still young, guy glanced up in slight worry at the commotion. "You, uh, all ready today miss?"

"Yes," Mae said shortly, pulling out her wallet. Something burned in her chest; she didn't recognise the feeling, but she sort of compared it to annoyance.

The guy looked up at her again as he rang things up. "You shopping for, uh, a-a boyfriend or something today?"

"No."

"Oh. Brother, or, father, or uh, uh, cousin?"

Mae snorted mirthlessly. "Are you interrogating me, or asking if I'm available?"

"What? N-no, I-I just, I—"

"—debit, please."

"Sure. Yeah. Uh," the speed the poor guy was checking things out with was insane. She almost felt back, making him feel so uncomfortable. But for some reason, she couldn't really summon up any empathy. Just that red-hot, burning sensation in her chest. "Uh, should be, uh, r-ready for you there."

She inserted her card. As it took its time loading, Mae's eyes idly scanned the ink curling up her cashier's arm. Her heart burned more. "You're a Captain America fan?"

"Hm? O-oh, I, I guess. Yeah! He's pretty dope. A-do you like him, too?"

"No."

"Oh."

She avoided the young man's eyes. "I think he's a monster," she muttered, wondering why the hell she was telling some random Urban Outfitter's worker that. "I don't think we should let him walk free. Let alone be entrusted with people's lives."

"Oh. I-I—"

"—thank you," she said, accepting the bags in two hands. "Have a good day."

Mae left the store without another word, and with one thought in her head, the only thought she was going to allow to simmer until Monday's dawn broke tomorrow.

There was something very, very strange going on. 

And she felt like it connected to Steve Rogers, still. Maybe foolishly; maybe her heart was just misplacing its feelings. But she couldn't shake him out of her theories.

As well as that damned stranger in her guest bedroom.

But further than that, everything strange linked to Theona Chavez. And whatever, or whoever, she was trying to hide.

Her chest burned.

I struggled with this chapter because I wanted to try and write out dissociation and the idea of spacing out completely, but it's difficult to write without either just spelling it out or displaying it incorrectly. So hopefully that was explained alright. 

Thank you for reading; let me know what you thought.