#thread: quill and cosima

[cyberneticatoms]

WHERE: Quill's Penthouse (Upper District) WHO: Cosima Devine (@sparepcrts)

Quill could already feel a headache coming on and it wasn't half past 10 in the morning. Still he let himself in to the penthouse he'd leant to Cosima for when she had a guest she didn't want to bring home or go to their place. Spotting a man near 2 decades older than him in the kitchen, he cleated his throat catching his attention, "Out."

When the man started protesting, he rolled his eyes glancing at his watch, "That door is about 20 steps away from you right now, you can either use it or I can help you take the faster route out the window. Pick one."

Pushing the door to the room with his shoulder, he sat on the edge of the bed. Setting a coaster down on the bedside table and placing an ice coffee on it, glancing at Cosima when she started to wake. "Pain meds and water first," he said holding out his fist towards her and a bottle in the other.

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

WHERE: Party Bus House WHO: Cosima (@backmaskcd)

Quill was in one of the bathrooms in the house, he'd stitched up his forehead and was leaning towards the mirror to make sure everything was fine. He probably should have gotten one of the medical team members to look at him but he'd wanted to get his people home. Besides it wasn't like his father hadn't taught him to handle it, as he searching their first aid kit for gauze to cover it with. Hearing the door open he scoffed, "I said I'm fine Quinc-," pausing when he glanced up and saw Cosima. "If you need me to grab you something, it's gonna be a minute."

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quil's jaw clenched, clicking his tongue against his teeth, he really shouldn't have been surprised that's what she stuck to. It wasn't like she knew the shit he'd thrown at Quincey's face before realizing how wrong it was. Sometimes he thought Fleur knew, the looks she shot him when he was a little too quick to scold his brother. "I've had plenty of girlfriends Cosima," he grumbled, "I don't need tips for how to keep someone I don't want."

This conversation had gone in a direction he wasn't sure how to feel about. Taking orders was easier, he didn't have to think about feelings, just his actions. Fully turning his body to face her, he reached over cupping her face with one hand. There were a lot of things he could say or do, instead he closed the gap pressing his lips against hers. Pulling back he sighed and shook his head, "Sorry, that was...," he dropped his hand, "Just...Look forget it. I'm being stupid." He pushed himself up to stand, maybe it would kill him to show an emotion he thought bitterly. "Let me know if you need anything...I'm just going to...not be here anymore," he said moving to walk away.

"Feelings don't make you a shit person, Quill," Cosima quickly shot back. "You can't control them." Her expression darkened very slightly before she let out a scoff. "No wonder you can't find a girlfriend, Quill. You're the unavailable one. Maybe try saying things with an emotion behind it. Otherwise it's all just words. You can say whatever you want, but I can hear the hollow tone. Don't bullshit me." Maybe she'd reacted differently when she was shit faced. Maybe he'd said it differently when she was shit faced. But his lack of any sort of emotion of feeling behind his words was starting to grate on Cosima. "I'm not stopping you from experiencing emotions, you know. You should try it. Maybe you'll find that future Mrs. Harker if you tried to be more genuine and smiled once in a while."

[cyberneticatoms]

WHERE: Elysium (Lio's Birthday Party) WHO: Cosima Devine (@sparepcrts)

Quill let out a sigh, trying to wrangle his brother and cousin felt like a full time job, though at least Lio had seemed to be having a good time. He was still feeling off from the meltdown Antosha had had, plus his father's clear disapproval over the change in relationship he and Cosima had now. He wasn't use to having his disapproval and was caught off guard how much it bothered him. Spotting Cosima he walked up behind her, wrapping both arms around her waist and pulling her to his chest. "Starting to think I need to be more obvious about being your boyfriend now," he grumbled, glaring at the latest guy he'd caught sneaking glances at her. "Lio's with his girlfriend and Dominik is sulking, all yours again for the night."

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill lowered his sunglasses enough to shoot Cosima the blankest of looks. "Well thank god you can avoid that, no I don't have the hots for Fleur. I'm not that much of a shit brother," he grumbled relowering his sunglasses. "Yeah cause Piper is the only one of us who doesn't go buckwild every other hour," he said. Other than Cosima, Piper was the only one he actually had any patience with, mostly because it was never tested like the others in the group. He placed a hand over his heart, "Look at me being 5% more special than the others. I'll ride this high for the rest of the week," he said blankly, pausing before giving a one shoulder shrug, "Love you too Cosima." He didn't worry about saying it, it had never changed anything before, though half the time she was drunk when he'd say it.

"Oh?" This piqued her interest, and she fully rolled onto her side, propping herself up on her elbow. "Hasn't been available? Quill Harker, do not tell me you have the hots for your brothers girlfriend, because I will laugh so hard I'll pee myself." She paused. Her relationship with Quill had never been cut and dry. She constantly complained about him and bossed him around, and he did just about anything she asked with little to no push back. And yet. "Other people clearly haven't been as useful to me." She briefly rolled her eyes. "Piper is the only person who's place with me is set in stone. Everyone else is usually on thin fucking ice." Another pause and a brief roll of her eyes. "I guess your ice is more solid, since you do whatever I tell you to do."

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

"Like I said, no one who fits the criteria for a future Mrs.Harker has been available," Quill said taking his own sunglasses and lowering them over his eyes. Not a total lie, really the only one he saw in that light wasn't technically available to him, especially considering her side comment over her own marriage criteria. Behind the sunglasses he rolled his eyes without fear of a comment from her, giving a vague grunt. "Is that a bad thing?" he finally asked after a beat, "You've gotten rid of other people for less."

"I guess, though usually the end goal is marriage," Cosima let her head tilt to the side so she could resume looking at him. "But it's easier to have a friend with benefits than it is to find a rich guy who isn't old as fuck to marry. You think I'm gonna marry someone who can't afford to make sure I don't work? Never in a million years." She pushed her sunglasses back down over her face, letting out a noncommittal hum. "Yes, yes. You're very cool and well traveled, Quill." Despite the fact that she was the one who wanted to go on an exciting, overseas adventure without knowing how to speak anything because other influencers made it look desirable. "You just wanna make sure I can't ever get rid of you."

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

"Is that not what dating boils down to, someone to pass the time with?" Quill said shrugging again, "Haven't exactly found anyone who fits under future wife of a CEO." He was well aware of what his parents expected of him in that regard. Despite how poorly he'd handled it originally, he also knows Quincey has no plans to go after the role. Shifting to lay on his back, he placed his hands behind his head. "Same reason I learned every other language in my pocket, people work with you a lot easier if you speak their language," he replied, "Also it was pretty useful when we went to Morocco."

Her grip had loosened a little more, and she was still staring intently at him, but the desperation had finally left her face. I'm yours before anyone else's. She'd never asked that of him - he had given it to her willingly. That fact alone made Cosima's stomach twist, but she refused to acknowledge it. "You prefer to have a girlfriend just for a steady fuck and someone to shoot the shit with?" Finally, something that resembled her usual persona sparked back to life. "That's something I'd expect from me, not you." She finally let go of his hair, relaxing on her towel again. "Remind me why the fuck you bothered to learn Arabic?"

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill didn't flinch at the hand in his hair, if anything he leaned into it, if she needed to hold onto him he wasn't going to stop her. He brought his hand up, brushing the back of his hand against her cheek and giving a small shrug, "Who said I care about any other girls," Fleur and Piper were exceptions, outliers to the way he'd always been. "I never lie to them, I make it clear what the rules are," he mumbled. Dating is another aspect to their lives, it never hurt to have a pretty face on his arm for a while, someone for events or nights out. If they couldn't handle it, well it wasn't like it was particularly hard to find another girl or guy who wanted some attention. He was staring back at her, letting his hand drop back down between them, "You didn't have to, but we both know I'm yours before anyone else's. So quit looking at me like I'm suddenly going to vanish."

As he moved her hand to his neck, Cosima immediately thread her fingers through his hair, gripping it tightly - she wasn't trying to hurt him, just gain an anchor point. Her stare was intense on him, a flick of an eye roll as he was showing off. He knew she wouldn't understand him in anything that wasn't English.

"Even then it's questionable," she murmured, eyes still fixated on Quill's face. There were plenty of ways she could try to regain control, and none of them were healthy. So instead she focused her energy on Quill. Maybe that wasn't fair, but she wasn't known for being fair. Her grip was still in Quill's hair, though she'd relaxed just a little bit, but the effect was still the same - he was grounding her, whether he knew it or not. "Girls don't like that. When you put someone else before them. I never said you couldn't date; you decided that."

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill glanced down at her hand on his wrist, not making any moves to get up before back at her. He was tempted to bring up that she neglected to mention Fleur, but she'd never looked so upset in front of him. Besides his brother could use the win for once of not having to deal with Quill's disapproving looks.

Moving to sit facing her, he tugged his hand lightly back before grabbing her wrist, setting her hand on his neck. For once he wasn't thinking several steps ahead, "All of them? That just in English? I can say it in Spanish or Arabic," there were a few others he could pull out but the point was the same. "I'm here just for you, still the only one I answer to," he said giving her wrist a brief squeeze before letting go, "You're Cosima, I'm Quill. You lead, I follow. Only way someone's stealing me from you is in a body bag."

At his question, Cosima could swear she saw red, but bit her tongue and said nothing. She felt him shifting next to her, and she didn't move obviously, but tilted her head very slightly so he was still in her line of sight.

"All of them," she mumbled, though she still didn't move. She didn't know how to tell anyone except Piper how utterly out of control she felt, and how it made her angry and sad and scared all at once. He didn't actually stand up yet - and while Cosima wound never, ever beg, her hand shot out, curling around his wrist. "Piper is busy being hot. She deserves to get ogled a little," was the only explanation she offered him, fingers still wrapped around his wrist.

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

"Whose playing games?" Quill shot back turning his body fully to face her now. He didn't flinch from the glare she shot him, keeping his eyes locked on hers. A part of him was tempted to back down the other part was ready to argue, at least until the look on her face turned sad. There was a beat where he waited to see if she'd fully dismiss him or not.

Pushing himself out of the seat he was in, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and gave a small sigh. Moving to lay next to her, he propped his head up with his hand as he laid on his side staring at her. "How many ways do you need to hear it?" he asked, "Already said it once today, you know me better than thinking I'd put someone over you. This place might be different but that's not." He bit back another sigh before sitting back up, "If I see Piper or Fleur I'll send em your way, I can find somewhere else to sit," he said.

"Playing games wastes my time," Cosima grit her teeth. She didn't feel like she had a solid grip on anything lately, and it was making her extremely volatile. "People here are weird and desperate. They're always talking about how easy it is to die, so they may as well just jump into whatever relationship they can get." She set her jaw and stared at him hard, eyes boring holes back into his. He was taunting her, she just knew it. All the same, he'd never asked her anything like this outright before. It was kind of the unspoken rule that Cosima came first to Quill, but here? She felt like everything was uncertain, and that made her scared. Cosima hated being scared.

"Why do you think I give a single fuck about what you do." Despite the venom in her tone, her face was sad. She was losing everyone. She needed Quill to help keep her grounded, and she was pushing him away while pulling Piper even closer. "I'm not going to ask you to do anything, Quill. Do whatever the fuck you want." She'd cross her arms if she didn't feel like it would come off as petulant, so instead she just pulled her sunglasses down and lay flat on her back on her towel, not sure if she wanted Quill to take that as a 'leave me alone' comment or to stay and tell her she still had control of everything.

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill glanced back at her, staring blankly for a second, "Hardly doubt most of my thoughts would be that interesting to you, rather avoid wasting your time like that." His eyes flickered down to her legs dropping his arms and setting his hands on his own thighs. Even if it's hot he can't help but notice the absence of warmth on him now. Looking at her again he shook his head, "So then I'm dating someone? For one that's a big leap from a one night stand, and two what would it matter if I did date someone?" He was studying her unsure what he was looking for, before half a smirk tugged at his lips, "You going to ask me to keep myself single now?"

"You have that weird look on your face," Cosima finally pointed. "Like you have all these things you could tell me, but refuse to. I hate when you do that." She pulled her legs back, crossing them under her as if to prove a point - though even she didn't know what it was. "No, you can't. You think anyone that associates with me can just pick someone willy nilly? You don't even know if they're going to get attached and start dating you. Then what?"

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill had glanced at her when her grip tightened, raising a brow at how quickly she released him, when she said nothing about it he resettled. He wasn't sure if he was upset about losing her hand, his own still on her leg, opting not to dwell on it long. It had never gotten him anywhere before other than semi annoyed at the situation. Taking his hand off her leg to cross his arms over his chest. "Drinking can lead to finding someone at least more bearable to be around," he said with a shrug. He took a chance to glance around, "Well like I said why not both, my time isn't worth as much, can afford to be less picky."

One of Cosima's core personality traits was that she liked to be in control of everything at any given time. One of the things she hated most about Quill was that while he would do what she asked of him, he was an enigma to her. She couldn't figure out what he was really thinking ever. Her fingers dug into his shoulder momentarily, but she let it go almost as quickly. She couldn't throw a tantrum about not being able to read minds. "I guess nothing is, no; but again, that would involve someone worth my time suddenly walking into my field of vision." She quirked an eyebrow at his comment. "Yeah? In the drinking or the fucking?"

[quickthinkingharkertwins]

Quill gave a vague hum, eyes flickering to her hand briefly but otherwise made no move to stop her. "We're drinking now, I'm not putting anything past Quincey and Nixon, their shared braincell just as likely to get tossed in the lake as they are to toss each other," he replied, he'd almost shrugged but hadn't wanted to jostle her hand off. Watching he scoffed, closing his eyes and tilting his face up to enjoy the sun. "You becoming a spinster is as likely as Fleur going sober," he quipped, before he hummed. The talk of spinsters reminding him of his conversation with Zarina and he managed to keep the grimace off his face. "Nothing's stopping you from doing both, hell I might even indulge," he mused out loud, at the very least the stress relief would clear his head from wherever his own thoughts had almost drifted to.

"Who said there was a catch? I just said I wasn't going to tell you all the reasons." She drummed her fingers across his shoulder for a moment. "Don't go fishing, Quill. It's not a very attractive quality for anyone to have." Cosima paused to look at the lake, not shocked at all that none of her friends were actually in it. "We're all too busy drinking to go in. Besides, I don't trust it." She took a sip of her drink, observing Quill quietly for a moment. "I don't have any plans to leave the lake with anyone. No one has really caught my attention since being here. I'm turning in to a spinster already, I can feel it," dramatically throwing her arm across her face. "I came here to get shitfaced, not to find a quick lay."

[cyberneticatoms]

Quill raised a brow, tempted to ask who'd she had picked when it clicked what she was implying. He kept running his thumb up and down her neck, his gaze softening as he looked at her. "Course I will," there was likely to be a picture in the social section of the paper. But this wasn't that weird, plenty of guys carried a girl after a party, heels could be a bitch and all that. It's what he told himself he'd tell his parents if there was an issue as he leaned down picked Cosima up bridal style.

He hesitated briefly before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the corner of her mouth, "Let's get you to bed." He'd say he missed her cheek, that the alcohol had made him touchier if she changed her mind by the time they got to the penthouse. "I'm all yours tonight," in whatever way she wanted him, and every night after.

"I've already made my pick," she was still tapping away at her phone, though she leaned a little more against Quill. "A quarter to 4? Time really does fly by when you're having fun," she let out a soft, drowsy laugh. "Sometimes," was the only response he got to his comment, letting her head tilt a little as his thumb moved against her neck. "Yes; I'm sleepy. Just one minute more and I might need to be carried." She looked up at him finally, batting her eyes. "Will you carry me?"

[cyberneticatoms]

"Wishing they could take you home for the night, so you have your pick," Quill kept his voice neutral on that, even if he didn't fully care it still didn't make him happy. He checked his watch giving a low whistle, "Bout a quarter to 4, everything here is booked for another few hours if you want to stay." Though based on how she was acting, she looked ready to head out.

"I'm there when I need to be there," he replied easily, moving his hand to her neck. Chuckling he raised a brow, "Of course I will and look at that, another year older and we're learning how to share." He moved his hand down to her shoulder, thumb brushing along her neck, "Is this your way of telling me you want to leave now then?"

"Well yeah, but have they said something more than just a passing comment," Cosima giggled, reaching up to tap the tip of his nose. "I better be the star of the night - it's my birthday." Despite this, however, she was already starting to feel drowsy. "What time is it, anyway?"

"Of course I want the bed; it's the best one in the penthouse. You wouldn't know, you're never there," this earned him another pout. "So, you'll come back with me and give me all your attention?" Her eyes were bright. "I'll even share the bed with you." Which really just portrayed how cocky she was, but Quill's stuff may as well be her own.

[cyberneticatoms]

"Cosima," Quill said, an amused huff as he looked at her, "Multiple people have said something, you're the star of the night." He was giving her a brief once over, the drink he'd brought her had been more sugary mixer than anything else. Though even that had him keeping an eye on her, a sugar crash mixed with a hangover wasn't any fun for anyone.

When she pressed closer to him and glanced up at him, he looked down. Reaching his hand up he tapped on her lip with the back of his knuckle on his thumb. "It is your birthday, if you want the bed it's there for you," he agreed easily. He'd blame it on her being his soft point and his own good mood when he said, "And no, no one else but you has my focus."

To anyone who didn't know them, it almost seemed like they were a couple; Cosima tipsy and leaning into Quill for support, and him almost anticipating her needs just before she'd actually need them. It was part of why Cosima liked Quill so much; he was always tending to her. She was spoiled, and she wanted to stay spoiled. So when he reached up to help her steady her drink, she just nestled a little more into his side as a response. A thank you was rare from her, and it was more likely that she'd show him in little gestures or glances.

"No; why, did someone say something?" She looked up, eyes a little bleary as she quickly scanned the crowd. "They're all kind of blurring together because everyone is buying me a drink." Not all of them were alcoholic; the bartenders weren't stupid, and valued their jobs; half the drinks Cosima consumed were just plain water with a splash of sprite, coke or grenadine; but that didn't mean she still wasn't more drunk than she probably should have been. "Have you? Do I not get to sleep in your giant bed tonight?" She looked up at him with her big blue eyes, offering up a pout. "It's my birthday."