love/paranoia | bianca

[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Bianca rolled her eyes and almost bit her tongue to stop herself from opening the can of worms that was the endless debate between herself and Oberon. Marvel vs DC (which, speaking of life and death consequences, was the one hill she would absolutely die on). But this was the time for a personal attack, contrary to whatever else he might say, since Oberon was just a little too observant for his own good and Bianca’s insides squirmed at the knowing looks he was giving her. She was a pro at deflection, and reminding Oberon that shaky-cam fight scenes didn’t count as good cinema seemed like a good way of wiggling out of the hot seat.

The idea was tempting, which meant Bianca had to recalibrate and remind herself of the facts. She’d invited Oberon over. She needed advice. She was deathly afraid of doing or saying the wrong thing this weekend. Opening the comic debate was a surefire way to redirect the conversation, but then what kind of progress was she going to make on this new Boggart of hers? So she forced herself to exhale slowly and promised herself, Later. At some future date where she could disarm him, tie him down, and run through her well-practiced lecture where Bianca summarized her top ten Batman issues and why the complex themes that were explored in those comics didn’t have anything remotely close to competition in the Marvel multiverse.

“Are you a Seer now?” she snapped at him, crossing her arms stubbornly as she felt her internal anxiety overwhelm her other senses for a moment. After a moment, the annoyance faded as she sighed in frustration at herself. “Sorry. I’m just…waiting to see what causes this to fall apart. It’s been a long time, so if it won’t come from him then it might from his family.” Yeah, that was the main fear, wasn’t it? Every attempt at a relationship in the past had failed. The truth would always come out – he was already committed, he’d been lying about something important, he didn’t think the Brazilian National Quidditch Team was that good. Those game-ending revelations that could change everything. Keeping their relationship secret for so long meant there hadn’t been that many external challenges to it. Meeting his family felt like one of those crossroads moments, and Bianca just wasn’t ready to let Cade go. Oberon’s reminder that his dad had somehow managed it gave Bianca a weak spark of hope. “Yeah. What’s his secret? How’d he manage that?”

oberon anteros blishwick

[oberon anteros blishwick]

won't quell the desire

to know what was really going on

April 12, 2028
Bianca Alia Rivera

A lesser man would have backed away slowly long ago with his tail between his legs. But Oberon was one of the few not intimidated by the five-foot-nothing fiery Head of Law Enforcement. But that had come with time, including the backslide to their friendship after the Burke scandal. It had been a difficult place to recover from, but Oberon had always been too forgiving for his own good. Suffice it to say he was unsure what would have happened if the tables were turned. That being said, Oberon was intensely curious about the man in her life. What kind of man could leave such a woman so frazzled and survive?

Oberon sighed. It was a fair point and a valid concern. ”Well…” He thought aloud. ”Perhaps you could tell me more about this—your friend’s man. What’s he like?” In the interest of context, of course, and definitely not because Oberon was nosy or a chismosa like his mother. Curious, he pushed off the counter to the island and leaned forward on his elbows, one hand perched to hold his head up. A slow smile crept onto his face at her question. The story of his mother and father was one of his favorites and one told often growing up. It was so simple, yet so pure, and Jackson Blishwick’s eyes sparkled whenever his mother entered the room. Maybe not literally, but it was more poetic that way.

”Well—he says it was love at first sight.” Oberon paused, giving Bianca time to eye roll and maybe pick herself up off the floor after if needed. ”But she always talks about his sincerity.” He paused once more, but only to feel grateful they met and found love. Hopefully, that would happen for him someday. ”Not to mention he was willing to meet my Abuela and the rest of the family before she moved to London.” Jackson might have been the life of the party storyteller, but Oberon could only imagine the fear of such a feat. Oberon’s Abuela was a tough lady.

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[Bianca Alia Rivera]

Merlin’s beard, Oberon could be so transparent sometimes. Like sure, he kept secrets professionally and his expression was always carefully blank whenever Bianca asked him point-blank about his job. And his handwriting was dreadful, which meant Bianca couldn’t decipher anything by reading over his shoulder before he’d notice and close his notebook. But when it came to gossip, or picking up crushes like a bad pox, he was so painfully obvious. Bianca could see whenever he was infatuated with someone new, or when he'd picked up a new gossip trail. Granted, you didn’t have to be particularly talented to notice how badly Bianca was lying about her own current predicament. It frankly embarrassed her to see how much ammunition she was practically handing Oberon for the future. She’d have to put him back in his place later, maybe with some carefully aimed hairbands (growing up with a gang of cousins meant that Bianca’s slingshot aim was very good).

She crossed her arms and stared at him with a deadpan expression. “Yeah, sure. Why not just bring him over and arrange for a closed interrogation?” Bianca was prepared to die before she let that happen. Why set herself up for a duel she just couldn’t win? With her luck, they’d get along smashingly and team up against her. She couldn’t defend herself from embarrassing stories from two sides at once. But setting aside Oberon’s obvious attempt to fish for information, Bianca hopped onto a stool on the opposite end of the island from Oberon as he told her his parents’ story. He was a good storyteller, and it was also obvious to see how much he believed in what he was saying. Bianca gave a cursory eye roll at the obvious source for Obie’s deep-seated belief in love at first sight but nodded along to the rest of the story as she played with some neatly folded napkins that’d been left out.

“Mmhm,” Bianca agreed without thinking, “It’s one of his best qualities. He doesn’t play games.” She began to fold one of the napkins into triangles as she considered all the different ways Cade had shown her that – sincerity, straightforwardness, whatever you wanted to call it. It didn’t quite register in her mind that she’d spoken out-loud, but at some point Oberon finished his story and silence settled across the room again. He had that starry-eyed look that Bianca loved to tease him for, but she respected his parents too much (much more than him, at least) to make a joke about that particular story. Still, she couldn’t deny that it’d done the trick. Some of her nervous jitters seemed to have gone away. Cade had been telling her for ages that it’d be okay, but hearing it from Oberon helped reinforce the idea. He’d known her for years, and setting aside his obvious mental condition (because falling in love that fast could not be normal), he did know how to cheer her up. “I guess you're right. Looks like you’re good for something besides propping up the fanbase of subpar multiverses,” Bianca teased, using one of her favorite tools against Obie -- the compliment/insult wrapped up together.

oberon anteros blishwick