Archive of Our Own ^beta

If you had ever asked Victor, before the death of his wife, if he wanted a sister when he was younger, he’d probably tell you no. Most likely because he was too focused on figuring out how to save his wife, but also because sisters are annoying. They are needy, and are full of attitude.

Now if we look at our modern day Victor, and ask him the same question, he might have changed his mind. Not the ‘sisters are needy and annoying’, but for wanting one.

When Freeze first met Firefly he never thought he’d end up working with her, or just tolerating her. She was the opposite of him, quite literally, and she held the power to kill him quickly, that was kind of scary. But he was smarter than her, way smarter than her.

The more they ended up collaborating, the more he felt an attachment, a brotherly one. The aggressive arguments quickly faded into small sibling-like bickering. The bickering turned into small insults, and the insults turned into poking fun at one another.

The fighting fire with ice turned into simple shoves and fights.

Victor never knew he wanted a little sister, and he never knew that he’d be sitting on a couch, uncomfortably stuck in his cryogenic power suit while he told Bridgit off for cooking mac ‘n cheese wrong.

An odd argument, but reasonable, mostly because Bridgit managed to boil the water to the point of burning the mac ‘n cheese, which should be a simple task. He should take in consideration that she probably associates cooking with abuse from her… brothers… so he gets up, waving to Britgit to stay in the makeshift living room, and heads over to the stove.

He’s cooked. He used to cook for his wife when she was still alive bedridden. Normally he’d cook more complex meals, but the ingredients have been hard to come by, so they’ve been sticking to simpler foods. Warm meals for Bridgit and cold foods for Victor. A very mixed house, neither of them ever got the proper nutrients. Victor did try to get Bridgit to eat a bit more, he thought she was getting thin, but she’d never cave.

Victor boiled the water adding in the noodles and cheese powder with some milk. He cooked quietly. He heard footsteps approaching, he didn’t say anything, weary of scaring her off, instead waiting for Bridgit to initiate the conversation.

Bridgit shakily inhales, “You didn’t need to cook for me.” Her voice was quiet, she wasn’t scared, no she was never scared. She was on high alert, waiting for the moment Victor would step forward to hit her. She knew he never would. But her body was telling her it’d happen. A side effect to her brother's torment.

“You need to eat.” He replies. His eyes don’t move from the pot as he stirs. “Even if that means I have to cook for you.”

“I upset you.” No, she didn’t upset him, but she doesn’t realize that, her whole life everyones been upset with her. So of course she thinks he’s upset with her. She always found it hard to believe that Victor cared. No one cared for her, it was always every man for herself. The only time her brothers seemed to appreciate her was when she sacrificed an arm and leg to do their families bidding. Even then, they only wanted her help, and her trade of help never came with care.

Victor continues to cook before moving to grab a bowl and a fork. “If I was upset with you, I wouldn’t want you to eat.”

“Oh.” Victor fills the bowl before placing the fork in and handing her the food.

“You’re right, ‘Oh’. Unlike those so-called ‘men’ who used you, I will see to it that you get what you need, or at least try for it.” Victor huffs as he leaves the kitchen, Bridgit trailing behind him. “Sit down, eat, please, for the love of god, eat and maybe we can watch something? I fix up the TV. How ‘bout that?”

She looks up at him and nods, whispering a quiet thanks before starting to eat.

Later that night they’d end up on opposite sides of the couch, watching a glitchy, very much pirated version, of ‘The Wizard Of Oz’. This wasn’t how they thought life would have gone, this was almost the complete opposite of what they expected.

Bridgit likes to wonder how she would’ve turned out if it was Victor that was her brother instead of Joe, Cale and Evan.

Victor doesn’t like to think what would’ve happened to Bridgit if he never met her.

All they know is that they’ll stick together.