Chapter Text
The sun was drifting towards the horizon. Well, as close to the horizon as you could get in New York City. It sank towards the dark silhouettes of skyscrapers, their windows glaring out a reflection of bright orange. The clouds were being painted in soft pinks and yellows, and even the part of the sky that was still blue was paling. The steady rumble of the city, cars roaring and blaring, people chattering, and the wind blowing through the packed streets, faded into the background. Through all the noise and stench of smog, a long-haired figure perched on the top of one of the lower skyscrapers.
Freya stared out at the sunset, running a hand through her tangled curls. Usually when she was out and about like this, it made her feel happy, comfortable. Normally, leaping from rooftop to rooftop was a welcome distraction from him. But today, it felt like he was right there with her, peering over her shoulder, watching her every move, snarling in her ear.
Freya’s phone rang, and she shuddered, already knowing who it was. With trembling fingers, she pulled out her phone. The contact name read Boss. It would be obvious, if anyone knew about her super identity. But in her civilian life, everyone just assumed that it was the manager of the book shop that she worked at.
She pressed answer the moment the phone was out of the little zip pocket in her suit. Delaying the inevitable would only make everything worse.
“H—” Freya didn’t even get the word out before a giant voice, a voice so loud that she felt like an ant, overpowered her soft speech.
“What the fuck are you doing?” His voice crashed through the speakers of her phone, causing her to shrink in on herself. “You’re supposed to be doing your job!” Freya didn’t even bother to wonder how he knew what she was doing. She had long ago guessed that he had put a GPS tracker or something on her phone.
“I know, I j-just—” How was she supposed to explain that watching the sun splash colours across the sky was one of the only things that he couldn’t threaten to take away from her anymore? How was she meant to tell him that the inexplicable peace of dusk was one of the only things that could even begin to loosen the knot of constant anxiety in her chest?
“Listen up, you useless bitch,” Freya closed her eyes and flinched a little, despite being completely alone on the skyscraper. “You even think about deserting me, betraying me, or abandoning your job, and you know what I’ll do.”
Freya took a long, deep breath. Then another. She clenched her jaw as tightly as she could, desperately fighting back the tears that threatened to spill past her lashes, and the sob that was trying to tear its way out of its chest.
Find out the girl’s identity. Figure out how we can use it against her.
“Got it,” her voice was far too strained, even for her own ears.
“Good.” The curt voice cut off as he hung up.
Freya stared at the black screen of her phone for too long, resisting the strong urge to hurl it off the rooftop as she blinked back tears. After one, long, extended moment, she slipped the phone stiffly back into her pocket and took a running leap onto the rooftop next to her.
“Maria?” she heard her best friend’s voice calling curiously from another room.
Maria cursed her own clumsiness, having stumbled as she climbed through her apartment window and fallen into a heap on the ground. “I’m fine!” she shouted back.
Maria yanked off her mask and suit as quickly as humanly possible, pretty sure she heard something rip in her haste, and stuffed it into the miniscule gap under her bed. There was a knock at her door.
“Come in!” Maria said breathlessly, pulling on her soft, faded red dressing gown, kicking away a stray, crimson sleeve that had appeared from under her bed.
Maria’s bedroom door opened, and Eliza Schuyler poked her head through, slight concern glinting in her large brown eyes. “You okay? It sounded like you fell pretty hard there,”
Maria just shook her head, smiling slightly. “Nah, I’m fine. I just tripped over that ugly-ass skirt, you know the one?”
The concern faded from Eliza’s face as she smiled, and Maria almost had to look away due to how much she glowed. “The one Alex got you?”
Maria felt the tension in her shoulders loosen, if just slightly, at the feeling of talking with her best friend. “Yeah. I mean, I know I complained a lot about how skimpy most of the outfits James bought for me were, but I don’t think that Alex had the right idea in buying me a fucking granny skirt.”
Eliza covered her mouth in an attempt to conceal the ringing giggles that seemed to fill the entire apartment with warmth. “Why—” she broke off for a moment, collecting herself. “Why do you even still have that skirt?”
Maria grinned properly this time, chest filling with her own laughter. “I’m waiting for the day that Alex has a daughter. Then, once he complains about whatever she’s wearing, I—” Maria picked up the almost-grey, floral monstrosity from her carpet— “am going to give him this.”
Now they were both cracking up, letting the simple joy seep into the walls and windows, causing the entire room to shine a little brighter.
Their laughter died down to quiet huffs of air, and Eliza was the first person to break the comfortable, easy silence.
“I’m going to meet Pegs and John down at Espresso Yourself. Wanna come with?” It had been a while since Maria had learned of the name of the coffee shop down the block, but sometimes she still had to suppress a slight eye roll when she heard it. She smiled at the offer anyway.
“I’ll pass, thanks. It was a busy day at the shop, and I’m exhausted,” Maria yawned, partly for emphasis, partly because holding up a job, a social life, and a secret super identity on the side really does wear you out after a while. “Have a good time.”
Eliza beamed, causing Maria’s heart to grow about seventeen sizes, “Thanks, have fun sleeping!” before pivoting with a wave and walking out the front door of their shared apartment with a “Bye!” over her shoulder.
Maria sagged with relief, loosening the white-knuckled grip that was keeping the old dressing gown wrapped around her. She padded over to her bed, pulling out her suit and examining it.
Her supersuit and her pseudonym. Those were the only two things she liked about her alter ego. They were the only two things about her alter ego that she had control over.
Freya’s mask was a red and gold masquerade mask. Not always practical, but hell, if it didn’t look good. Her suit was her signature scarlet red, with gold sun designs on the back and chest, the belt around her waist and her gauntlets being gold as well. She had gloves and combat boots in the same red.
Maria folded up her suit and put it into the cheap, disguised compartment that she had bought for her drawers. It wasn’t the most top secret place to hide the suit, and if Maria had anyone else as a roommate, she’d be in a state of constant worry of it being found. But Maria and Eliza’s relationship was built on a lot of trust between the two. And Maria knew that Eliza respected her privacy too much to just root through her stuff like that.
Maria slipped out of her worn dressing gown and into her night clothes, before flopping into bed.
Maria knew that this situation had already escalated way, way too far. There had always been an unspoken agreement between Freya and Diana, to never endanger civilian lives or cause damages, unless absolutely necessary.
Neither had taken into account that Prometheus wouldn’t abide by this rule.
It was only only once in a blue moon that Prometheus actually joined the action himself. Usually, he just sent Maria out to do shit for him.
But apparently, this was a special occasion.
Maria felt like she couldn’t breathe. All that filled her lungs was smoke, fire, and the sound of screaming screaming screaming.
Prometheus sat neutrally on top of an overturned truck, on the edge of the madness, just in the shadow of one of the buildings. He watched the chaos build and crash and rebuild around him with milky eyes. Every once in a while, one of the not yet rescued civilians would suddenly break away from the group, to approach Prometheus with a horrified expression on their faces.
Then, Prometheus would say something, and their expressions would change from terrified to shocked. Without a second thought, they would turn and join the brainwashed mob overturning cars, setting them on fire, blocking Diana from attacking Prometheus.
Prometheus seemed to have carefully planned the mob to overturn certain cars, blocking off all roads at the intersection, so that the crowd was just trapped there, watching their cars burn and their friends and family do all the physical damage.
And Maria just stood on top of a building, watching it all happen.
She knew that she was no saint, and even the fact that Prometheus was threatening her to do his bidding didn’t excuse the things she’d done. She knew that karma was probably going to catch up to her at some point.
But even so, none of the damage that Freya had ever done could come close to what was happening now.
She just wanted to know why. There was no rhyme or rhythm to what Prometheus was doing. It didn’t help anyone, it didn’t seem to be contributing to whatever his master plan was. Maria knew he wasn’t one to create chaos just for chaos, so what was to point of him endangering himself like this? Why go out into the open, what he could do safely from base?
As Maria watched these civilians, some young enough to still be teenagers, call their loved ones in tears just in case they didn’t make it out, she knew, she knew, that there was no way she could do this anymore.
Her friends… were strong. Not strong enough to protect themselves from a supervillian, but that was Maria’s job.
Maria breathed in the fire. She let the smoke and ash fill her lungs. She opened her eyes, which she hadn’t even noticed that she had screwed shut, and forced herself to take in the scene in front of her. The screams, the shouts, the sobs, they echoed and echoed in her ears, but she didn’t allow herself to shut them out. You caused this. You caused this. You caused this.
Maria’s heart stopped for a second, as the brainwashed husks all simultaneously fell to the ground unconsciously, like some sort of sick flash mob. But one by one, they began sitting up, looking around, obviously disoriented. A couple of them turned onto their stomach to throw up violently.
She realized that Prometheus was signalling her over with quick, sharp movements, and prayed to every god that had ever existed that he hadn’t read her mind.
Maria climbed down the side of the building, and onto the overturned truck beside Prometheus. She felt his eyes pierce into her, hated the way that it felt like he was stripping her down.
“Bring Diana over here, to me.” his orders left no room for objection, no room for questions. His stare was a white-hot burn, glaring daggers into her very mind as he peeled over her thoughts.
Maria bobbed her head in one short, stiff nod. “Yes, sir,”
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to know what he was going to do to Diana. God, she shuddered at the very thought. Technically, Maria and Diana were enemies, and she knew that that’s what Diana considered them to be, but Maria couldn’t help but hold a healthy amount of respect for the superhero. Not least because Diana reminded her of a certain someone in her civilian life.
Now Diana had a huge crowd of people to rescue, half of which were still unconscious or vomiting.
Maria watched Diana pick people up with the long vines that she had shot out of cracks in the pavement, and deposit them out of the danger zone. She noted how Diana’s eyes were constantly flickering between the civilian being rescued and the crowd still in the hazard zone, to check for any imminent danger.
Diana was so completely engrossed in doing her job, it was going to be so easy to catch her off guard. Maria couldn’t help the guilt that welled up in her heart and lungs.
Maria closed her eyes, and clenched her fist. She took the constant, burning heat that lingered in her veins and scorched her insides, and gathered it all into one hand. She opened her fingers, and saw a little ball of light, almost like a tiny star, barely the size of an orange, floating about an inch off of her palm.
Maria glanced at Diana, and drew her arm back, before hurling the orb like it was some sort of alien tennis ball. It hit Diana right in the back of the head, where her dark hair was gathered into a bun.
Diana stumbled for a moment, looking bewildered, before turning to Maria with an expression of prickling irritation. “Could you please just let me finish this one thing?”
Maria bit her lip, but shrugged in with a faux, confident yet uncaring demeanour that was Freya’s signature move. “How about we just fight and get it over with?”
Diana sighed, but stretched out an arm, palm first. A thorny rose vine grew out of somewhere inside the truck, wrapping around Maria’s ankle.
Maria raised an eyebrow. “Really? That’s an old move,”
Diana narrowed her eyes. “Well, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m trying to save lives here,”
Diana was never really one for this sort of attitude unless she was in an unquestionably dire situation. Maria felt something in her soften as she realized that she was about to make Diana’s day about twice as hard as it was already.
Maria approached her from behind, but Diana flicked her wrist, causing an oak branch to shoot out of a nearby window and almost whack Maria upside the head. Maria threw another light orb, bouncing it off Diana’s shoulder, to make it seem like Maria was attacking Diana in her usual style.
Then, Maria did something that she had never done in her months of fighting Diana. She used her fists.
Maria tackled Diana, delivering a blow to her stomach, knocking the wind out of her. She straddled Diana’s abdomen, staring into her wide, shocked eyes.
Maria and Diana had never been this close before. Diana’s doe-like eyes were an excruciatingly familiar shade of brown. The part of her nose that wasn’t covered by a leafy mask had scattered, extremely faint freckles dotting the pale skin. The wreath of vines that was usually nestled into Diana’s head was knocked askew.
Maria’s breath grew short and painful, something in her heart telling her that she knew this girl, but she still reached up a trembling hand, and shone a brilliant beam of light straight into Diana’s eyes.
Diana cried out in pain, writhing underneath Maria. Maria’s voice cracked as she whispered a faint I’m sorry, her heart crumpling like a paper ball in her chest.
Maria wasn’t trained for hand-to-hand combat or picking up heavy objects. Prometheus had trained her to run, climb, jump, and roll, not tackle superheros and pick up their still-fighting bodies.
Nevertheless, Maria lifted Diana in a bridal carry with great difficulty. Diana, despite being temporarily blind, kicked and scratched and squirmed. She clenched her fist, and an apple flew out of nowhere, missing Maria by about a mile.
From this distance, or lack thereof, Maria could properly inspect Diana’s costume. It was extremely well designed and tailored, unlike Freya’s. A shimmering light blue for the fabric, but with designs of different varieties of vines wrapping up and down the body, images of flowers and fruit alike blooming along them.
Maria dropped Diana as gently as she could, which wasn’t very, at Prometheus’s boots. He grinned, and wrapped a long-fingered hand around Diana’s bicep.
Diana fought harder, growing a spiky hawthorn bush scarily accurately close to where they were, just barely an inch away from ripping Prometheus’s black and white suit.
Prometheus stared at Diana for a moment, before fixating on something just past her, eyes turning more and more milky white by the second.
Once his eyes started literally glowing white, Prometheus whispered something aloud and Diana went terrifyingly still, breathing hard. Maria stood to the side, watching the unsettling event happen with a dry throat and pounding heart.
Prometheus leaned forward and started mumbling into thin air, words unintelligible to Maria.
Maria brought up a shaking hand to brush some curls out of her eyes, before bringing that hand back down to lacing it with the other one in a death grip. If she is currently causing Diana’s death, she’ll never forgive herself.
But Diana twitched minutely, and Maria thanked whatever higher power was up there. At the time, she’d never admit it to a single living soul, but she had grown fond of the superhero that considered her an enemy.
Diana shot into a sitting position, clutching her head with both hands and gasping like she was running out of air, eyes screwed closed. Prometheus turned his back to Diana, uncharacteristic shock painting his expression.
After what felt like hours, but was probably only about a minute, Diana opened those dark eyes, and they were totally clear. It was obvious that she had gotten her sight back. She stood up properly, almost managing to hide the way her legs were trembling like a newborn fawn’s.
“What was that?” Diana’s voice was surprisingly steady.
Prometheus seemed to have gotten over his shock, and smirked like it was an inside joke that only he understood. “Nothing you need to worry about, little miss,”
Diana took a deep breath, looking ready to argue. But she turned away, turned towards the civilians still in danger.
Without a second glance, she shot out a vine, and swung over to them, to assist the helicopters already there to rescue the victims.
Maria swallowed a scream. A scream of what emotion, she wasn’t sure. She turned to Prometheus. “Seriously, what was that?”
Prometheus’s knowing smirk stretched wider, lips paling. He reached towards the back of his head, and, thankfully out of the sight of anyone else, unclasped his white mask. He tilted his head up, showing off the silvery scar that stretched from the base of his throat up to his jawline.
“You’ll find out soon enough,” James Reynolds said.
Eliza was curled up on the squashy couch when Maria dragged herself through the apartment door.
“Hey,” Maria mumbled, ready to throw herself into bed. But then she noticed that there was something… off, about Eliza. Maria shuffled over and sat next to her. “Are you okay?”
Eliza was watching the news with blank eyes. The story that was playing quietly from the television was, Maria realized with horror, the intersection disaster that Maria had played a part in earlier.
Eliza turned to Maria, and gave her a tired smile. “Yeah, I’m alright. This sort of thing is just…” she picked at the multicoloured blanket that Peggy had gotten them as a housewarming present, “... shocking, you know?”
God, if Maria didn’t know. “I do, but you look…” a nauseous feeling suddenly flipped her stomach over violently. “Wait, were you there?”
Eliza didn’t meet Maria’s eyes. “Not really, I mean—” Eliza tugged agitatedly on the ends of her hair— “sort of?”
Panic wrapped its iron fingers around Maria’s ribcage, preventing her from breathing. She sucked in air desperately, trying to stay calm. Don’t freak out. Eliza didn’t know that Maria had been partially responsible for the traumatic event. She wouldn’t understand why Maria was so upset. “Oh my God, are you okay? I mean, obviously not, but are you hurt, there was so much fire, do you need to go to the hospital?!” So much for staying calm.
Eliza shook her head, looking back up into Maria’s eyes. “No, no, I’m fine, I wasn’t really part of the action anyway. I was just outside the intersection, when people started overturning cars. I… watched it all happen.”
Maria clasped Eliza’s hands within her own. “I’m just saying, if you need to talk about that shit, you can. To me or your sisters or anyone else. That—” Maria gestured towards the footage on the television— “is really fucked up.”
Something like light shone in Eliza’s eyes, but she bit her lip and looked away, almost guiltily. “Yeah. Yeah, I can.”
There was silence between the two for a little bit, Eliza and Maria’s hands still wrapped up together, as they watched the horrific story quietly. It then cut to a shitty vertical mobile phone video, focusing in on three figures.
Maria shuddered lightly as she realized that it was footage of Prometheus doing that weird mind-power stuff to Diana. Eliza seemed focused on other things, however.
Eliza reached over, grabbed the remote, and paused the TV. Then she pointed at the screen. It was Diana lying still at Prometheus’s feet, while Freya stood off to the side. “She doesn’t seem to be enjoying this, does she?”
Maria frowned. “Diana? Of course not. I’m pretty sure she’s being possessed or something there,”
Eliza shook her head, cuddling closer to Maria. “No, I meant Freya. She doesn’t seem to actually enjoy fighting,” Eliza pointed at the scene again. “Look at her face. She looks like she’s gonna be sick or something.”
Maria nodded. It did look like she was going to throw up as she watched James take control of Diana’s mind. Which was a pretty accurate description of what Maria remembered feeling at the time.
Eliza continued. “So why does she do it?”
Maria danced her fingers across Eliza’s knuckles. “Maybe Prometheus is threatening her. Maybe he’s threatening her loved ones,” Shut up Maria, you’re going to give yourself away.
Eliza looked troubled. “Can’t you go to the police for that?”
Maria shrugged. “The police in this city are shit. I mean, they can’t catch two criminals, with the help of a superhero. If I were Freya,” Which I am, “I wouldn’t trust them to take care of a pet rock, least of all my loved ones.” I’m cutting it pretty fucking close here.
Eliza tightened her grip on Maria’s fingers. “I don’t like this,” she muttered. “No one should be so stuck in that kind of situation.”
Maria shrugged. “I suppose she chose to put herself in there,” Something I remind myself of all the time.
A sigh. Eliza rested her head on Maria’s shoulder, looking like she had just watched a dog die. “This isn’t right,” Eliza buried her head in Maria’s jumper, and Maria tried to calm her thumping heart. “Nobody chooses to put themselves in there.”
Maria ran her fingers through Eliza’s dark hair soothingly. “There’s nothing we can do about it,”
Eliza turned her head, to look up at Maria sadly. “I know.”
The sky was a murky sort of grey. The kind of grey that made the entire horizon feel smaller than it actually was. Clouds hung heavily from the sky, making the air feel thick. The dullness of the sky seemed to suck all the colour from the atmosphere, creating a pit in your stomach, where joy was meant to reside.
That’s how it felt, anyway.
Beneath it all, two figures were battling on top of a building. One clapped her hands, bringing shoots of ivy creeping up the sides of the walls and clinging onto the other’s ankles. The second figure sent a mini shockwave of light towards the first, who stumbled, but righted herself again quickly. Having lost her focus, she allowed the ivy to disintegrate.
It was a dance. One that they both were all too familiar with. It was a game of who would slip up first, who would be the one to admit defeat today.
Neither actually understood the reason that they were fighting. But they both knew of the one who was forcing them to fight, who was using the second figure like a puppet for whatever his sick, twisted master scheme was.
Maria kicked away the shrivelled stems of ivy plants, still wrapped loosely around her ankle. She shot a beam of light towards Diana’s chest, but it was dodged easily.
Maria then caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, causing her to freeze. Diana took advantage of her distraction to send a spiky aloe vera plant straight into Maria’s abdomen.
Maria stumbled, clutching her stomach, but glanced back up towards Diana. “I’m calling a timeout,”
Diana frowned, confused. “You can’t just —”
“See you in a minute!” Maria called over her shoulder, as she climbed agily down the building.
She landed neatly in a crouch onto the pavement, before straightening up. She turned towards the four people nearby.
Alex Hamilton, John Laurens, and Peggy Schuyler were the people that had distracted Maria , and they seemed to have been filming the action with the camera that Maria had gotten Peggy for Christmas. This was not the intended use of the camera.
Aaron Burr was behind the three, watching Maria approach with an expression not unlike a child who had been caught burning flies with a magnifying glass.
John stood in front of the youngest Schuyler sister, and Alex stood in front of him, like this tiny man could somehow protect two people who could probably lift him with one arm.
Maria watched them for a moment, before taking a step back. To them, she was a dangerous villain, after all. No wonder that they were so cautious.
They had no idea that Maria would literally rather saw off her own arms than hurt them.
“What are you doing here?” Maria chose to ask. “This is a battle zone.”
Peggy rolled her eyes from behind John and Alex. She didn’t look too happy about that fact. “Okay first of all, no duh,” Peggy’s words were accented heavily with sarcasm. “And secondly, we were here first,"
Alex crossed his arms over his chest. “She’s right,”
Maria pinched the bridge of her nose. She knew that she shouldn’t be surprised. She would’ve been worried if she had gotten any other sort of response from the three stubborn people in front of her.
“I have to go, just— ” Maria turned back towards the building where she had been fighting Diana earlier— “get out of here, okay? It’s not safe.” She didn’t wait around to see the puzzled expressions on all four of the civilians.
Maria resumed the fight with the, also bemused, Diana, but her mind remained on the four, brave, but powerless, people below her.
The fight had come to a conclusion, a loss for Freya and Prometheus, due to Diana sneaking a vine around Maria ’s waist and sending her sprawling onto her back. She quickly came to the conclusion that, if she was this distracted with worry and exhaustion, then it was probably time to retreat to lick her wounds.
Maria was hiding in a dark, dingy, back alley, about to change out of her suit, when she heard her phone calling. She answered it, shuddering at the contact name Boss that leapt out at her from the screen. “Hello,”
“I know who Diana is,” was the immediate response she got. Maria nearly dropped her phone.
“What?” she whispered, clenching the phone so tightly that she wouldn’t be surprised if she accidentally crushed it like an empty beer can.
“I’m not going to tell you,” God, she could literally hear the smirk in his voice. “But I’ve got a plan. Meet me in our warehouse at six on Friday.”
“I—” Maria felt ill, and not just because she was talking to her abusive, supposedly ex, boyfriend. “What are you going to…”
“None of your fucking business, bitch,” his voice snarled, far too close, into her ear. “Stay in your lane.”
Maria swallowed as hard as she could, and nodded, despite James not being able to see her. “Got it,”
Everyone in Maria’s civilian life thought that Maria had broken up with her shitty, abusive boyfriend ages ago. And it wasn’t a lie.
After Maria realized that she was gay, a lesbian, not attracted to men at all, it still took a while for her to muster up the courage to break things off with James.
All her friends, especially Eliza, were amazing emotional crutches to lean on during that period of her life. Eventually, she did manage to leave him, but only with a lot of screaming and violence, all on James’ part.
Months after their breakup, Eliza and Maria decided to move in together as best friends. (Though Maria had wondered back then, and still wondered now, if it was really the best idea to share an apartment with the woman that she was absolutely, completely, head-over-heels in love with.)
Just after the two moved in together, James tracked Maria down, and cornered her in an alley.
But instead of actually attacking her, he threatened her. He was the only living soul who knew about her powers, told in a moment of vulnerability. He threatened to kill her, hurt her friends, hurt Eliza.
Unless she worked under him, outside of the law. Unless she essentially became his henchwoman. Unless she went against every moral she’d ever had.
Maria agreed.
This definitely wasn’t the first time she was rethinking her decision, and she was sure that it wouldn’t be the last.
But this time it felt different. It was serious this time. Diana, plus Diana’s loved ones, they were all in genuine danger, perhaps life-threatening.
Maria couldn’t go on like this much longer. She had to do something. She had to do something.
Maria shuffled through the apartment door, feeling like someone had battered her with a hammer.
However, her mood instantly lifted, at least a little bit, at the sound of Eliza prancing through their apartment.
Eliza slid past her in fluffy socks, humming What the Heck I Gotta Do, before grabbing Maria’s hand and pulling her into a twirl.
Maria laughed, allowing herself to be pulled into Eliza’s dance. “What’s got you in a good mood?”
Eliza shrugged, grinning that heart-destroying smile. “I just had a good day, that’s all,”
Maria hummed, narrowly avoiding stepping on Eliza’s toe. “And who’s the song for?”
Eliza bit her lip and hastily looked away, cheeks glowing in a faint blush. Maria tried to act like it wasn’t tearing up her insides. “No one.”
Maria prodded her gently in the side, and Eliza let out a tiny giggle. “Aw, c’mon, who is it?” Please don’t answer that, I’m not sure if I’m able to hear it.
Eliza shook her head. “Seriously, it’s unimportant,” Maria could tell by Eliza’s face that that was a lie, but she didn’t keep pushing. She was scared of what answer she was going to get. Thankfully, Eliza was quick to change the subject. “Anyway, did you know that Anthony Ramos sings that song?”
Maria snorted. “The guy that Alex totally doesn’t have a crush on because he totally doesn’t look like John?”
“That’s the one,” Eliza nodded. “You should listen to the soundtrack sometime.”
Maria shrugged. “Sure,” She glanced to the side, and her heart fell a little.
It must have shown on her face, because Eliza’s eyes softened and she asked, “What’s wrong?”
Maria shook her head, “It’s stupid, just forget—” at Eliza’s concerned frown, she relented. “It’s dumb, but, I’m just sad that my tulips might be dying.”
Eliza cocked her head to the side. “Why do you think that? They haven’t even bloomed yet,”
“That’s the thing. It’s been two weeks, I’m like ninety percent sure that it’s supposed to have bloomed by now, and I’m just worried that it’s because I haven’t been taking care of it properly.”
Eliza shook her head vehemently. “Wrong. You’ve been taking care of it perfectly well. Not all plants are the same, y’know. Didn’t Mulan say that the last flower to bloom is the most beautiful of all, or some shit like that?”
Maria cracked a smile at that, and Eliza lit up. “Yeah. Yeah, I guess it did.”
Later that night, after an hour or two of watching Netflix, snuggled up to Eliza, Maria decided to head off to bed.
“Night, ‘Liza. You staying up much longer or…?” Maria rubbed her eye.
Eliza, for some unknown reason, had her eyes fixated on Maria’s, still closed, tulip plant. “Nah, I’ll be going to bed soon, too. Just have something I want to do first,”
Maria, too tired to continue to ask questions, just sent her a half-smile before stumbling into her bedroom.
The next morning, Maria’s tulips had opened a crack. Not much, but just enough to see the pink petals inside, and enough to send Maria’s heart soaring through the clouds.
“Eliza! Oh my God!” Eliza came stumbling out of her bedroom, looking worried. But she stopped when she saw Maria, looking young and incredibly excited, next to the flower pot. Something warm and soft filled Eliza’s face.
“Congrats on your tulips blooming!” Maria didn’t hesitate in sweeping Eliza up into a hug.
What Maria didn’t see was Eliza flicking her wrist, causing the tulips to bloom a little bit more. Maybe just to see Maria smile like that again.