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Saturday, August 20th, 2011 02:25 pm
Title: Aggressive Negotiations
Author: [livejournal.com profile] enochiansigils and [livejournal.com profile] not_from_stars
Fandom: X-Men
Pairing/Characters: Dani Moonstar/Mikhail Sorokin
Rating/Category: R
Warnings: One scene of consensual sex between a minor who is older than her years and a an adult.
Summary: Danielle Moonstar was raised by Magneto and his Brotherhood and became a member of the MLF at a young age. She met and fell in love with Mikhail Sorokin. But the course of true love never does run smooth and when Dani dies as the result of a mission gone wrong, Mikhail is left to pick up the pieces of his life. Five years pass and Mikhail learns that things are not as they have always seemed.
Words: 31,122
Notes: Written for [livejournal.com profile] au_bigbang 2011. Thank you very much to [livejournal.com profile] queenmidalah for the wonderful art and fanvideo she made for us! We've loved writing this story and have very much enjoyed taking part in the challenge this year.








God, her hand was soft. No, Mikhail, don't notice things like this. She's fifteen! But that? So wasn't stopping him from noticing how soft her skin was or how beautiful she was.

She was also noticing how nice his hand felt holding hers. Looking at him through her lashes she was also struck by just how handsome of a man Mikhail was. It had been something she had been too busy and too annoyed to notice fully before.

"So..." he said, pulling his hand away reluctantly. "Tell me about yourself. Not your powers or your reasons for being here. Don't tell me about Dani the mutant, tell me about Dani the girl."

"Danielle Moonstar, called Dani or Moonstar. I have a passion for horses, motorcycles, leather, and weapons. I write in my spare time and sing... mostly badly from what I am told."

"Half of that sounds like me," he said with a faint smile. "So look at that, something to bond over."

She smiled. "What half isn't you?"

"The horses and the writing. And sort of the singing," he said. "I don't sing much, but I have a decent enough voice when I do."

"But you're into leather, weapons, and motorcycles?"

"Uh-huh." He nodded.

"Sounds like the start of a friendship right there."

He grinned. "I like the sound of that." Friendships had been built on less, after all.

"And I can teach you to appreciate horses."

"Can't promise it'll work, but I'm willing to give it a shot."

"They're much easier to understand than people," she murmured as she walked. "They never willingly want to hurt you for being something they're not."

"No wonder you like them, then."

She nodded. "Mutant or human, we're the same to them as long as we treat them right. All animals are like that, but horses have this power..." She looked down at the ground, biting her lip. "Horses have always been important to my people."

"How so?" he asked curiously.

"The Cheyenne have always had a spiritual tie with their horses."

"What kind of spiritual tie?" Probably a stupid question, but he was legitimately curious. And it showed that he was at least making an effort.

She bit her lip. "You'll laugh," she said, looking away.

"I won't," he said solemnly. "I promise."

"Spirits of fallen Cheyenne warriors are said to come back as horses, so my people always have a link with our ancestors, and it was the spirit of the horse that helped our people through harsh times very long ago," she explained. "They're very sacred to us."

"Why would I laugh at that? That's a beautiful thing."

"Most people that aren't Cheyenne do," she said with a shrug. "Magneto doesn't, but he understands."

"I can't say I understand it, necessarily," Mikhail allowed. "But it's a beautiful idea."

"At least you can see the beauty in something you don't fully understand."

"I try, anyway." He looked at her as they walked. "But even if I didn't, I wouldn't laugh at it. I'm not going to laugh at any of my teammates for something they believe in."

"Because you might end up on the wrong end of a weapon?" She was smiling when she asked him that.

"I've ended up on the wrong end of a weapon for less, let's put it that way."

She nodded. "It's not a good thing to upset the people you're working with when they could one day be the ones holding your life in their hands."

"And my teammates can be ridiculously scary in all the bad ways."

She was quiet as she thought about that. "But you don't want your team to follow you out of fear. You want them to continue to respect you. Fear only gets you so far and it can be a double-edged sword if wielded by the wrong hand."

"Exactly," he said with a nod. "I want them to know that there are definitely times they should be afraid of me, but I don't want them to always be afraid of me. Not to mention, they won't listen to me if they're afraid of me."

"They'll find ways to undermine you."

"And I can't have that."

"Once your people try to undermine you, your control starts slipping in other areas, too, and that could be dangerous." Someone was talking like she had seen it happen before.

"Yes, it could," he agreed, impulsively wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

It was unclear if she was more surprised by that -- or the fact that she leaned into him when he did.

He smiled and hugged her lightly against him. "Look at this, us getting along."

She laughed. "I'm easy to get along with." Well, sometimes.

Mikhail just snorted.

"Hey. I am. I just get very focused sometimes." She eyed him. "Besides, you didn't exactly make being around you easy these last few months."

"Not like you made it easy to be around you, either," he countered.

"I thought you hated me. I get defensive."

"Well, I don't hate you," he said, hugging her against him again before pulling away.

She gave him a small smile when he let her go. "I'm learning that."

"Hey, I'll do whatever it takes to prove it."

She smiled, ducking her head again to watch the ground. "So, you have my story. How did you get here?"

"Started when I was a kid. When I was a teenager I nearly killed my mother and baby sister with my powers."

"Ouch. I'm sorry."

"Blew the nursery wall out. Thankfully they were fine, but it was the start of things. Dad realized he had to do something about my powers. And he was at his wits' end, between that and his colleagues being less than accepting of his son being a mutant... because mind you, this was Russia ten years ago."

"Sounds like you would have been perfect for my dad to find you and rescue you," she mused. "He had the same problems when he was that age."

"Struck out on my own after that," Mikhail said with a shrug. "That's how I wound up with the MLF."

"I'm sorry you were alone." There was real empathy in her voice.

"It wasn't always so bad," Mikhail said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders again without really thinking about it. "First few years were kind of rough, but then when I was twenty, the MLF came into my life and it started working out."

"I'm glad it did and I'm glad you're here." She wrapped an arm around his waist.

"I'm glad I'm here, too," he said with a smile.

"See, something we agree on."

"Hopefully we find more than just that."

She was quiet for a long moment. "I would like that."

"Well... we're both glad I'm here and we both agree your people's connection to horses is beautiful. So two things, right there."

"It's a good start to a friendship."

"Friends, huh?" He looked at her thoughtfully. "I'd like that."

"Me, too. I don't have a lot of those."

"Neither do I."

"You have me."

"And ten minutes ago, you hated me."

"No," she said firmly. "Upset at you, but not hatred. Never hatred."

"Severely disliked, then," he amended.

"Still wrong. Worried."

"Worried?"

She nodded. "You're the leader and if you refused to accept me here..."

"It would've made things bad for you."

"I would have been stubborn, though."

"You? Stubborn? No way," he teased.

She laughed softly.

"I think that's another reason we didn't get along at first," he said. "We're both pretty stubborn."

"I was determined to stick it out even if you didn't accept me," Dani said. "I couldn't allow you to run me off."

"Don't ever let anyone run you off," Mikhail said. "From anything in life."

"I don't. I never have."

"Time changes people, though. Don't let that be one of the ways it changes you."

She smirked and stepped to walk in front of him. Well, she was walking backwards in front of him. "Do you really think that I'm the kind of person that would ever let anyone run her off?"

"No, but few people know what the future holds," Mikhail said. "Be open to the possibility of it happening, even if it's one you don't like."

She shook her head. "No. Because I can never allow that to happen to me."

"Danielle," he said gently. "Life doesn't always do what we want it to do. I just want you to realize that you never know what's going to happen until it happens."

"Mikhail, I don't think you understand." She looked at him, her eyes serious. "It's not a choice I have. It's the cold hard facts."

"Why can't you, then?"

She looked at him. "Do you really need me to answer that?"

"No, but I'd still like to hear you say it." He shrugged. "Don't have to, though."

"It's not because of Magneto." She sighed. "Well, not completely," she amended honestly. "I'm a mutant and a woman, Mikhail. We're fighting a war against people who want to bag us and tag us. If I were to let myself be run off of anything... that would make me a victim and a target. I'm not a victim."

"If you ever have to run, you've got me at your back," he said. "You're part of my team and I protect my teammates... even the ones it takes me a while to warm up to."

She tilted her head, something filling her eyes before she turned around to walk with her back to him for a moment. "If I ever have to run, I'll already be dead. I don't run from a fight."

He reached out to touch her shoulder. "I'm just trying to help."

"I know. But when you're Magneto's daughter, running is not an option. I won't make him ashamed of me."

"If he's any kind of a decent father, he could never be ashamed of you."

She turned her head to look at him. "If I fail him, he will be."

Mikhail had a few words to say about that but he held them back. Instead he did something that could probably be considered anything from brain-breakingly stupid to outright suicidal.

He pulled Dani into his arms for a hug.

Dani stayed stiff for a moment in shock, then hesitantly hugged him back.

He suddenly didn't want to let her go. He did anyway, though. "Sorry," he said apologetically. "My little sister solves everything with hugs and I guess it rubbed off on me."

"It's not a bad thing to have picked up on."

"But still, it wasn't right to just hug you like that."

"I didn't mind. I just was surprised."

"Want another hug?" he asked with a teasing grin.

She surprised herself with her answer. "Yes."

He pulled her close and hugged her again, just holding her.

She leaned against him. This felt so right in ways she couldn't put into words right now.

"I like this," he said, smiling to himself and absent-mindedly pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"It feels nice."

"Yeah, it does."

"Is it going to hurt your reputation to be seen hugging me?"

"You really think I care?"

She snorted in response. "Highly doubtful."

"So I'm perfectly content to keep holding you. Besides, everybody needs hugs sometimes."

"It's been a long time... and why am I unable not to say embarrassing shit right now?"

"Because the universe likes fucking with us like that." He laughed. "If it helps any, I've got something embarrassing that I'm tempted to say."

"Oh really?"

"Yep."

"Are you going to?"

"I'm not big on humiliation, so no."

"I told you."

"Promise you won't laugh? Much, anyway?"

"I promise I won't laugh very much," she said solemnly.

"I want to kiss you."

"Why would I laugh about that?"

"Because I'm ten years older than you."

"So?"

"It doesn't seem a little... pathetic?"

"No. If you won't laugh, I'll tell you something even more embarrassing than the hug thing."

"Won't laugh," he promised.

"I've wondered how kissing you would feel since the first time we yelled at each other." She looked away.

"How did the yelling result in you wondering that?"

She sighed. "Because you're fucking hot."

"Yeah, I kinda am, aren't I?"

"And oh so modest."

"Screw modesty."

Dani laughed in delight.

"Hey, no laughing."

"I like that you don't pretend."

"There's no point in pretending."

"Good. It's refreshing."

"Unfortunately, it also doesn't change the fact that I want to kiss you."

"So do it, already."

He tipped her head up, leaned down, and kissed her deeply. It didn't quite have the finesse of all the times he'd imagined kissing her, but even so.

Dani melted beneath his kiss for a moment before she was kissing him back just as deeply.

Mikhail whimpered slightly and nipped at her lower lip.

Dani responded by wrapping one of her arms around his neck.




Chapter One || Chapter Three


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