Disclaimer: I don't own The Gifted.

A/N: More Thunderblink stuff. Still taking place after episode 2. Clarice doesn't actually show up here, but John thinks about her a lot.

Clean-Up Crew

"We officially live in a dump."

"At least we live somewhere."

"Hey, and now we have skylights. That's something. Always wanted one of those, my parents never let me get one. Now I have like, I dunno, twenty."

John ignored the others and lifted yet another pine tree branch out of the HQ's makeshift library. Somehow one of Clarice's portals had torn off the tops of at least five pine trees and dropped them all in the library. One of the comfy, well-worn couches was half-gone, and there was a five-foot wide hole in one wall. That woman was insanely powerful, even if she didn't realize it yet.

They could work on that.

John chunked the massive branch out of the hole and wondered yet again how much more tarp and duct tape they had. There was no way they could patch all these holes with what they had left. He was probably going to have to go on a supply run anyways, seeing how they were scraping the barrel when it came to their medical supplies. The whole portal incident had caused a few injuries, and then clean-up was an adventure in splinters, cuts, and sprained muscles, and if you added in the normal wear and tear that came from people learning to control their powers… Well, he would just plan on that supply run.

Over in the corner, their self-appointed resident librarian Colette was drying out books with a hairdryer, looking rather peeved about the whole incident. Pages fluttered pitifully, and she huffed, her eyes flicking to John for an irritated second. He knew that she wanted to say something, to complain, but she was keeping a lid on her frustration.

While he didn't mind if people fussed some to him, there was an embargo on mentioning anything about the damage to Clarice. It wasn't really her fault, and he had made that clear to every person who lived in the HQ. Clarice had saved him, Marcos, the Strucker kids, and Caitlin from getting snatched by the Sentinels, and he would blame himself rather than her for this mess. He was the one who had urged her to use her portals, anyways.

However, just because no one was allowed to grumble to Clarice about the damage, that didn't mean they didn't talk about it all. Especially because they had to put the HQ back together.

"Hey, watch it!"

John turned around to see one of the pine tree tops wavering in the air, supported by nothing but Ethan's wobbling telekinetic ability. He had grazed Opal with a limb, and she looked less than pleased judging by how her nails had gone all metallic and sharp.

"Ethan…" John warned, already raising his hands in case he had to grab the branch. The telekinetic had spent most of his teenage years refusing to use his powers thanks to his parents' disapproval, so he wasn't particularly skilled.

"I got it, I got it," the nineteen-year-old said. The tree top bobbed over to the hole, Ethan following behind it. John was aware of Colette moving even before she appeared at his elbow, eyes blazing.

"Ethan Timothy Schmatz, if you drop that tree and make a hole in the floor—"

"I'll catch it," John said, putting a calming hand on her arm.

"Mmm." Colette rolled her eyes.

The tree top made it out of the room, and Ethan gave Colette a smug grin before he went back to cleaning up. John would have to tell him that there were better ways to show off for the girl you liked.

After the library was relatively clear of debris, John headed out, moving onto the next project. After that, he would go check the medical supplies and look in on Clarice. She was still in the infirmary, healing up. Maybe he'd ask her if she'd like something special when he went out for the supply run. But, wait, knowing her, she wouldn't tell him straight up… Okay, he would get Marcos or Caitlin or someone else to ask her what she would like.

Then he'd make sure to get it if he could and pretend it was an accident.

That'd work.