Chapter One

"Keenan Tomkins."

Kili beamed at him as he walked across the stage and took his diploma. Fili couldn't help but grin back and cheer as loud as he could. After the graduates had tossed their hats and the ceremony was over, it was all he could do not to sweep the younger man into his arms and kiss that broad smile off his face.

He couldn't do that here. Kili's classmates, or rather "Keenan's" classmates, thought he and Fili were brothers. Fili even saw a few of his former classmates in the crowd. He, or rather "Felix Tomkins," had graduated two years earlier from the same high school. Honestly, there had been times that he had wanted to drop out, but he knew that he'd never convince Kili to stay in school if hadn't.

Kili had been against the entire idea of going to school anyway.

Fili still remembered an eight-year-old Kili pouting up at him and asking what they needed school for anyway. Fili had only been ten himself, but he had known they couldn't keep on living the way they had that first year. Sneaking into hotel rooms and tricking credit card readers into accepting a worthless piece of plastic as payment was one thing, but with the new registration laws, it was dangerous to live on the fringes of society. There was a much higher likelihood of being caught.

Trying to find the right apartment had been difficult before Kili had been talked into the idea. The brunet hadn't so much been against finding a permanent place to live as he was vehemently against going to school.

"I don't need school," he had argued petulantly. "What can school teach me that I can't learn from the Internet?"

From any other kid, the argument would have been laughable, but from Kili, it was a hard one for Fili to find a good answer. All Kili needed was some sort of interface with Internet capabilities, and he could instantly download whatever he wanted straight into his head.

It had taken seeing a boy they knew from the streets getting dragged away by the heavily-armed NYPD Mutant Squad to finally convince Kili.

After that, it was easy for Kili to figure out which apartment's landlord's accepted electronic payment and rarely visited their tenants in their apartments. Unfortunately, there wasn't an apartment in New York that wouldn't require some sort of initial face-to-face contact to lease the apartment.

In the end, though, that hadn't been a problem. Fili managed to bribe a homeless man with some new clothes and some food to pretend to be their dad and rent the apartment. That's where the name "Tomkins" had come from. And for a warm winter coat, the man had happily signed them up for school as well, with Kili manipulating the school's computer system to crate a record of them from another New York school and fixing all their paperwork for them.

It was amazing how few questions people asked when they didn't feel suspicious, which Fili made sure they didn't ever feel, of course.

Because Fili was terrified that whoever had blown up Kili's apartment would be on the look out for another "Killian" to pop up somewhere, they had registered him as "Keenan," making it easy for Fili to get away with just calling him "Kee." Fili had become "Felix," partly for the same reason and partly because Fili never wanted to go back to being "Philip."

Thoughts of the past and how far they had come to get here flew out of his mind, though, when Kili threw himself into Fili's arms, cackling with glee as the slightly shorter blond stumbled back a bit.

"Finally done!" he cried, the happiness radiating from him giving Fili a sense of satisfaction. Ever since he had his first vision of Kili, he had wanted to make sure he was always happy. "No more school for me!"

"No more," Fili agreed with a nod, wrapping his arms around the ball of energy that was Kili and savoring the feel of the other in his arms.

He wasn't cruel enough to try and convince the brunet to try college. Sure, he knew the technopath would whiz through everything with ease, but Kili hated trying to fit in with humans. He always said it made him feel deceitful, pretending to be something that he wasn't. Like he was lying to himself about who he was.

Fili didn't understand the sentiment, but then again, he hadn't grown up with mutant parents who had accepted and loved him for his abilities.

Instead, he got a father who would have dissected him as soon as he found out he was mutant.

"Can we go home now?" Kili asked, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he purposefully broadcasted his lust to Fili, who barely bit back a groan.

Kili had been quick to pick up how to send pointed emotions towards the empath. And ever since their relationship had crossed into romantic territory, he had gotten quite good at sending waves of pure arousal to his lover.

And Fili definitely never minded.

"Yeah," he answered roughly. "We can."

Their apartment was only a few blocks from the high school, but they felt like torture as he was forced to walk next to Kili without touching him like he wanted. They stumbled up the stairs to their second floor apartment in a rush, Fili fumbling with the lock before finally getting inside.

Kili immediately pushed him against the closed door and devoured his lips. Fili sighed into the kiss, relaxing against the door and letting Kili take control.

He always let Kili have control. It was safer that way. Fili never wanted to risk doing something Kili didn't like, knowing that if he did, Kili wouldn't stop him because Fili could inadvertently make him like it by projecting his own pleasure onto him.

Besides, Kili always seemed happy enough to take the more dominant position in their sexual relationship.

"Bedroom," Kili growled as he pulled back, tugging Fili down the hallway and into their room. Fili batted Kili's hands away as he tried to fumble with the empath's pants and efficiently undressed them both within second.

Kili's eyes darkened as he backed Fili up until he tumbled back onto the bed, pulling Kili down on top of him. Fili spread his legs so that the technopath could settle down between them and moaned as their arousals rubbed against each other.

He'd never get used to this. Never wanted to. Even just this simple contact drove him wild with the feedback of Kili's pleasure combining with his own.

Kili was well aware of what Fili was feeling, too, as he smirked down at the blond and deliberately thrust against him. Fili keened at the feeling, nearly drunk with pleasure and arousal.

"You look so fucking good like this," Kili murmured, sending a wave of lust towards Fili that had him panting. "So responsive," he added as he tweaked Fili's nipples with his thumbs. Fili arched into the touch and moaned. "How did I get so lucky?"

Fili was pretty sure he was the lucky one, but didn't argue, just pulled Kili's head down into a heated kiss, losing himself in the feel of Kili's tongue and lips sliding over his own. He was so far gone that he didn't even realize Kili had grabbed the lube before slick fingers were teasing at his entrance.

"Kili!" he gasped, throwing his head back as one finger entered him.

"I got you, Fee," Kili whispered. Fili felt overwhelmed. Not at the touch or the words, but at the emotions behind Kili's words. Love and awe mixed with lust and desire. It was a heady mix that had his head spinning. Thankfully, all that he had to do at that very moment was lay back and let Kili work him open.

He was floating in a sea of pleasure when he heard Kili calling his name.

"Fili? Are you still with me?"

With as open as Fili was in that moment, the concern Kili was feeling underneath his arousal was stronger than it should be. There was even a hint of fear. Fili didn't understand why. This was normal behavior for him during sex. Kili should be used to it by now.

"I'm with you, Kee," he slurred out, opening hazy eyes that he hadn't realized he had closed. "Please. Need you."

"I'm here," he murmured, leaning down to give him a gentle kiss while pulling Fili's knees up.

"Ah!" Fili cried faintly in pleasure as Kili pushed into him, panting heavily as the brunet bottomed out.

"Alright?" Kili asked, breathing harshly.

He nodded. "Move. Please."

If he were floating before, now he was flying, Kili's pleasure propelling his own higher and higher. "Kili, Kili, Kili," he couldn't help but pant out as he approached his climax.

"Fili," he gasped back at him, almost reverently as his thrusts became erratic and faster.

Fili gave a high keen as he exploded between them untouched. Kili followed him two thrusts later.

He groaned as Kili carefully pulled out of him and sighed as the technopath quickly wiped away the mess on their stomachs before collapsing next to him on the bed.

"Love you," he muttered, burrowing into Kili's warmth and humming happily as Kili's arms wrapped around him.

"I love you, too," Kili said, emotions telling Fili that what he said was true. He pulled back to look at Fili in concern. "You've never been that out of it before…"

"What are you talking about? It was the same as always," he argued sleepily.

"No, it wasn't. Fili, you scared me," he confessed, fear spiking through him.

That woke Fili up and he pushed himself up on his arms. "I'm fine, I promise," he assured him. "The emotions were just a little stronger today, is all. It felt good."

Kili frowned up at him. "You're getting stronger," he accused.

Fili draped himself over Fili and brought a shoulder up in a half shrug. "Maybe, but it's fine. It's under control."

Kili was right to worry, he knew. The last time his empathic abilities had gotten noticeably stronger was when he was going through puberty in eight grade. He had ended up curled in a tight ball in the handicap bathroom at school, whimpering as he was bombarded with emotions from what felt like the entire school.

It had taken him a while to adjust to the influx, having to rebuild and fortify careful walls to keep from losing himself. It had frightened Kili, but Kili had been the anchor that had gotten him through the experience.

He was sure that, with their relationship being even stronger now, any new power boost would be no problem for him to adjust to.

"If you're sure…"

"I'm sure," he mumbled, feeling sleep creep over him once more. "No more worrying. Today's a happy day. S'posed to be celebrating."

Kili chuckled. "I think the celebrating tired you out. Nap time now."

"Hmmm, good plan," he slurred as he lost the battle against sleep.

Kili cried out as he was hit with a blow to his head and stumbled back to cower back in the corner of his cell. Fili's blood boiled as he felt the fear and helplessness pouring off of his lover.

The technopath raised his head to look at his captor, a tall guard with an impenetrable visor hiding half his face. Instead of the shooting him the defiant look Fili expected, Kili just gave him the broken look of a dog expecting to be kicked again.

That was startling enough without the angry scarring covering Kili's left cheek, misshapen tissue forming an easily recognizable 'M.' Upon closer inspection, he could see a thin metal collar around the brunet's neck as well.

With considerable effort, Fili turned his eyes away from Kili and looked around to see where they were. On either side of them were long rows of cells, stretching as far as Fili could see. Fili glanced at the cells next to Kili, and saw the same 'M' scar marking their inhabitants faces, along with the same collar around their necks.

He looked back to Kili to see tears leaking from his beautiful brown eyes as they gazed up at the guard.

"Please, just kill me now," he begged.

The guard just sneered and slammed the door to the cell shut.

Fili gasped awake, minding whirring with questions. The first and foremost being where the hell was he? How had he left Kili to be turned into the broken shell from his vision begging for death?

"Fili?" Kili mumbled as he opened his eyes and blinked up at him. "Bad?" he asked, by now familiar with Fili jerking awake from a vision.

He just nodded and curled around Kili, pulling him as tight as possible and burying his nose in his hair, reassuring himself that Kili was there.

"Fili, it's okay," Kili soothed, wrapping his arms around his shaking shoulders. Fili hadn't even realized he was trembling until then. He knew Kili was trying to hide it, but he could feel how worried and afraid he was by Fili's reaction. "It's okay. We know about it now. We can stop it."

Fili shook his head. He didn't understand what events could possibly lead to the vision he saw. How could they stop something if they couldn't understand how it happened?

"Fili, please! Just talk to me," Kili pleaded.

Please, just kill me now.

He shuddered as the words echoed in his head. He felt guilt crash into him. How could he ever let Kili get to the point where he was begging for death? Where was he?

"Come on, Fee, don't shut me out," Kili cajoled.

Fili pulled back to look into Kili's imploring eye, unable to deny him anything. He sighed and told him everything, unable to meeting Kili's eyes as he told him that he wasn't there at all.

Kili furrowed his brow. "Is that what they do to the unregistered mutants? Mark them and throw them into a cell?"

"It's not going to happen to you," he growled. "I won't let it."

The worry and fear were back in Kili. "You said you weren't there and that I looked… broken, right?" He nodded and Kili swallowed thickly. "I think I know why. I think you must've… died."

Oddly, Fili felt relieved at hearing that. It explained why he wasn't there to stop Kili from thrown into that hellhole. It was better than him just standing aside and letting it happen.

Unfortunately, the realization hit Kili hard after he had said the words.

"Fili, we have to stop it!" he cried, eyes tearing up. "I can't lose you too!"

"You won't," he promised, not entirely sure if he would be able to keep it.

He didn't understand why he got a vision that told him nothing about how to stop it. Usually, his visions happened for a reason. They showed him thing he needed to see, needed to see to either change it or make happen it.

This one was different. He definitely didn't want it to happen, but it didn't show him how to change it.

What was he supposed to do?

Kili sniffled as he scooted even closer to Fili, if that were possible. "I can't lose you," he mumbled again.

Fili hated the helpless feeling that came over him at Kili's sadness. It reminded him of how devastated Kili had been for those first few months, which in turn reminded him how close he came to losing Kili before he even met him.

He knew that it would only take a thought for Kili to be worry-free and happy, but he never wanted to manipulate Kili like that. He was already half afraid that all of Kili's feelings for him was a result of his unintentional influence. He would never purposefully use his empath powers on Kili.

"You won't," he vowed. "We'll just have to be careful, okay? Until we know more about what's going to happen."

Kili nodded miserably. "I love you."

"I love you too."

tbc…