Chapter Two
Fili groaned as the alarm clock next to the bed blared and woke him from his blessedly dreamless nap. He turned in Kili's arms and fumbled with the cheap clock to stop the noise.
"Noooo," Kili moaned as he went to roll off the bed, tightening his arms around Fili's waist and pulling him back close to him. "Don't leave."
Fili chuckled and turned again to drop a kiss on Kili's frown. "I have to go to work."
"Why do you have to work?" Kili asked in a huff but loosened his grip and let Fili slip out of bed. "I can get us everything we need, including all the money we could want!"
Fili rolled his eyes as he rummaged in their dresser for some clean underwear. Finding a pair of boxer briefs, he slipped them on before shutting the drawer, knocking it hard to get it to go in all the way. It had been a cheap piece of furniture when they had bought it nearly ten years ago. Now it was practically falling apart, just like everything else in the apartment.
"If we use our abilities to steal from humans, then we're as bad as they think we are," Fili stated, rehashing the same argument he had with Kili multiple times. "Besides, it's too risky. Every now and then might not be so suspicious, but if there's a string of computer glitches that lose payment information or of ATMs being short on cash with their cameras spontaneously failing, people will start to notice. It's risky enough to pay our rent that way."
Kili scowled at him as he pulled up a pair of jeans. "I don't like you working at that place."
"It's a diner, not a strip club," Fili said in exasperation as he pulled a t-shirt over his head.
"In Brownsville," he spat back. "Fili, there was a murder two blocks from that diner just last week! What if…" Kili's voice cracked, causing Fili's head to snap up and feel guilty. Kili usually had a trickle of fear thinking about him working in the not-so-great neighborhood. With his fluctuating power, he had brushed off the fear being stronger today as just him being extra sensitive.
"Kili," he said, sitting down on the bed and pulling his now crying lover into his arms. "Baby, nothing's going to happen to me at work."
"Something's going to happen to you somewhere," Kili pointed out with a sniffle, clinging to Fili as if he could keep him safe as long as he didn't let him go.
"You don't know that," Fili soothed. "Nothing in the vision definitively pointed to my death."
Kili gave him a level look. "Do you really think I'd ask for death if I knew you were still out there, waiting for me?"
"You might," he replied in a choked voice, unable to bear the thought but needing to say it. "If they… tortured you enough."
He shook his head firmly. "No, even then, I would never give up on you. Never ask for death knowing you were still out there. Never leave you alone." The absolute loyalty behind the words humbled Fili, but it still wasn't proof.
"They might have convinced you that I was dead or something. That doesn't mean anything," Fili countered.
"Please don't go in tonight," Kili begged, giving him a wide-eyed earnest look that Fili could rarely resist.
He sighed. "I have to," he said. "If I don't, Larry will fire me for sure. There aren't a lot of places that'll pay me under the table out there."
Getting paid under the table was important or Fili would have quit the diner a long time ago. Kili might worry about the neighborhood, but he didn't know the worst of what working at the diner entailed. Fili hated keeping things from him, but there was no need to make Kili worry even more. Besides, as long as nothing happened, things would be fine.
And nothing ever had happened.
"It probably wouldn't be that hard to set up an account in a bank's system and have no one question it," Kili mused. "I can probably even trick it into sending us a debit card. That way, we could set your paycheck up to be direct deposit and we wouldn't ever even have to go to the bank."
The problem with banks, Fili had realized as soon as he was old enough to have a job, was that they scrutinized certain things, such as IDs, much more closely than schools ever would. The only way he would be able to set up an account was to get a real, government-issued ID.
Which he wouldn't be able to do without a blood test, which would out him as an unregistered mutant.
And it wasn't just banks. The law made any place that cashed checks scrutinize identification extremely closely. Yet another measure to ensure that the mutant population followed the law and registered. If they didn't register, there was no way for them to cash a paycheck, so there was no way for them to live.
Of course, once they registered, nobody would hire them. There were no laws about mutant discrimination after all.
Fili shook his head. "It's too risky."
Kili threw his hands up in exasperation before crossing his arms over his chest. "Everything is too risky to you," he snapped.
Fili could feel the frustration roiling through Kili so he tried not to take the words personally. It was difficult though. "I only want to keep us both safe," he muttered, looking down at his hands. "There are people out there who will hurt us if they're given a chance."
They both knew the truth of that all too well.
Guilt welled in Kili and he wrapped himself around Fili once more. "I know. I'm sorry," he whispered. "I just want you to be safe."
"You really don't have to worry about me," Fili murmured. "Nobody ever tries to start any trouble in the diner." Mostly because Larry had shot the last person who had tried, but Fili didn't really want to tell Kili that.
Kili sighed but pulled away with a pout. "I wish you had a cellphone so you could text me that you're alright while you're there," he said. "You promise you'll be careful?"
"I promise," Fili said, turning so that he could pull on his shoes. "But you have to promise not to try and get a cellphone for me using your powers. Those things have trackers in them."
"Like I couldn't disable the tracker too," Kili scoffed. "But I know," he added before Fili could open his mouth. "You'd rather not risk it."
Kili's voice sounded annoyed, but Fili could feel the affection underneath.
"You don't seem to mind me having a cellphone though," Kili pointed out with a raised eyebrow.
"Because I bought that for you with real money," Fili countered, still remembering the day he had given it to the younger teen.
He had just started working full time at the diner after graduating, and he had wanted to do something special for Kili's birthday. It had taken a bit of saving, but he had managed to scrape together enough money to buy Kili an older model StarkPhone.
Kili had been so happy that he had impulsively kissed Fili for the first time. He had pulled back only a moment later, terrified that Fili would reject him. Fili, though, had just smiled before pulling him into a deeper kiss.
He had been waiting for ages for Kili to make the first move, not wanting to pressure the younger teen into a relationship and half afraid that the desire he felt from Kili at times was just caused by his own leaking out and influencing him.
"We don't pay for the service," Kili argued with a smirk, more for the sake of arguing than to prove any point.
"As if anyone could ever trace your hacking back to you," Fili said fondly as he tied his shoes.
"Can I come to the diner with you?" the technopath asked, changing the subject. "Please?"
"You'd be bored," he warned him, trying to dissuade him. "And I won't be able to talk to you much without Larry getting on my case."
"I don't mind being bored," Kili told him. "And I won't even make eye contact with you if you think it'd make your boss mad. I'll order coffee and bring a book to read at the counter. Please?"
Fili really didn't want Kili at the diner, but he didn't think he could tell him no without explaining why. And he really didn't want to tell him why.
Besides, it was the night shift. Larry would only be there for an hour or two before going home. And the night manager, Lobelia, while not exactly the friendliest person, wouldn't care if Kili were there or not as long as Fili didn't neglect his work.
"Fine, but hurry up and get dressed. I can't be late."
Kili beamed at him and was up like a shot, throwing on clothes in a whirl of motion. "Ready," he announced, not five minutes later.
Fili couldn't help but smile fondly at him and lean in for a quick kiss. "Come on. We don't want to miss the bus."
It was only a half hour bus ride from their apartment in Prospect Heights to the diner in Brownsville, but the difference in the neighborhoods couldn't be more different. It wasn't so much how they looked, but rather how they felt. Fear and despair were heavy in Brownsville. It was a refuge for all of those people who didn't have anywhere else to go. Crime ran rampant, of course, but the whole population weren't criminals. Most of the citizenry just lived in fear.
Fili suspected, though he had no way of knowing, that many of the people living there were mutants in hiding. After the series of raids in District X in Alphabet City a few years ago, the mutants that had lived there had scattered. Brownsville was a great place to disappear into if you didn't want to be found. Most people who lived there had learned a long time ago that it was safer to just look the other way.
Thankfully, the bus stop was right next to the diner, and Fili was able to usher Kili inside without appearing worried.
Because although he never feared for himself when he came here, he wasn't going to take any chances with Kili.
He nodded towards a booth in the back corner, indicating that Kili should sit there. No one ever used that booth because the springs in one of the benches had broken somehow and anyone who sat there sunk down to the hard, wooden support underneath. Not like it ever mattered. The diner was never crowded. The only reason Larry stayed afloat was because he conducted some sort of criminal activity out of the back.
Fili really wasn't sure what that criminal activity was, but he was sure that he didn't want to know.
He left Kili to his book and slunk into the back to grab his apron and order book.
"Hello, Fili," Larry's oily voice greeted him as a wave of lust was directed towards him.
Fili turned to see his boss craning his head out of his office and giving Fili a leer.
When he was little, Fili used to have trouble telling his emotions apart from the emotions he felt from others. There were times when it was still difficult, when his walls were down or when particular emotions were very strong. Lust, though, was something that was very distinctive to the person.
Kili's lust felt like chocolate, smooth, rich, and delicious, tinged always with a pulse of sweet, enduring love. Fili frequently felt like drowning himself in Kili's lust.
Larry's, though, felt like old grease and gave him the sensation of raw eggs rolling down his neck. It was only his years of hiding his own reactions that kept him from shuddering in disgust whenever he felt it.
This was why he had always kept Kili from coming to the diner. He hadn't wanted Kili to know what a creep his boss was, and he definitely didn't want to give Larry any opportunity to perv on Kili.
He reached out with his power and gave Larry a niggling feeling of having forgotten something, and watched in satisfaction as his boss's brows furrowed in confusion before turning back to his desk with a frown.
Fili could have just turned off any arousal Larry felt when he looked at him, but that would be too suspicious. Especially in Brownsville, where he was sure unregistered mutants were a dime a dozen.
And while he didn't know that Larry would turn him in, he didn't want to chance what the man would do with the information if he had it.
He dunked out of the back quickly before he caught Larry's attention again and scurried to take the order of a pair of skittish looking teens who had taken a seat at the booth in front of Kili's. As he approached their table, he was startled by the terror pouring off the smaller of the two while the other radiated wariness, eyes locked on the door as the other buried his head in a menu.
He was at their table when he froze as a vision hit him.
Six dark-clad men with the letters 'NYPDMS' stamped on their chests burst into the diner with their guns drawn, zeroing in on the booth where the two teens sat. The older teen shot up and pushed the younger one behind him as he shielded him with his body.
"Do not resist, mutants!" one of the men shouted harshly, spitting the word 'mutants' as if it were trash in his mouth. "Come quietly and you won't be harmed."
"Pull the other one," the older teen snarled, pulling something out of his pockets and hurling it towards the men. Fili watched, stunned, as two of the men went down with throwing stars embedded in their throats.
The remained men opened fire. Bullets flew, peppering the older teen and the wall behind him, but oddly sailing through the smaller mutant cowering behind him.
Sailing through him and hitting Kili right in the forehead.
"NO!" Fili felt himself cry out.
He jerked out of the vision and stared at the two teens in indecision before leaning down and whispering, "Follow me now."
The older one, who now that Fili looked, seemed to be around his own age, gazed at him with suspicion that Fili didn't have to be an empath to read in his eyes. "Why should we?"
"Because you're going to die if you don't and you're going to take someone I love down with you," he hissed, turning casually and walking towards the employees only exit next to the bathrooms. Kili looked at him in askance as he passed him, but Fili motioned for him to stay put.
If things with south, he didn't want Kili to be involved.
He stepped out into the back alley where the dumpsters were and had to wait only a couple of moments before the two mutants came tumbling out behind him.
"Fire escape," Fili said without waiting for them to say anything. He nodded towards the rusty fire escape attached to the apartment building next door. "Take it to the roof and go over one building and then back one. The buildings are close enough together to get across. The roof door is always unlocked so you can take the stairs down."
He had mapped out this escape route for himself, just in case he ever needed it. He was glad about it now. If he could get rid of these two quickly, maybe the Mutant Squad wouldn't bother any of them in the diner.
Gratitude flooded them both, but the older one was still leery of Fili. "Why are you helping us?" he asked.
"I already told you," he barked. "Now go!"
He didn't wait to see if they took his advice or not and fled back into the diner. Kili caught his hand as he walked by his booth and looked up at him in worry. "Is everything okay?"
Fili nodded and opened his mouth. Before he could say anything, though, the six men from his vision barged through the diner's doors brandishing their weapons.
He felt a flash of fear from Kili and he squeezed his hand, giving him a reassuring smile, before letting his hand drop.
"You!" one of the men pointed at him with a scowl. "Two teens just ran in here. Where are they?"
"Um, I think they ran into the bathroom," Fili lied, projecting trust towards the men as he pointed with his thumb behind him.
The men pushed past him and one of them swore, obviously noticing the exit back there. Five of them ran out as one checked the bathroom. Once satisfied the two weren't hiding there, he came back to question Fili some more.
"You didn't see them go into the bathroom?"
"I just saw them rush towards the bathroom," he said with a shrug. "I just thought they had to go, you know?"
He grunted at that, apparently satisfied by the answer because he rushed out after the rest of his squad.
He felt relief rush through Kili as he sagged in the booth.
They were both nervous for the rest of his shift, though thankfully nothing happened. After the incident with the Mutant Squad, Larry had took off towards home and Lobelia didn't bother him much.
Still, he was thankful for midnight to roll around and for his shift to end.
"Why'd you save them?" Kili asked in curiosity as they lay tangled around each other in bed once they got home.
"The Mutant Squad was going to kill them," Fili answered, reaching a hand up to cup Kili's cheek. "And they weren't going to worry about any collateral damage."
"And they call us the monsters," Kili spat bitterly. "They were just kids!"
He smiled ironically at that. "They were probably around our ages."
"Yeah, well, we had our childhoods taken from us by the same kind of people," the technopath grumbled back.
Fili wasn't really sure he had ever been a child. His first memory was of the pain and despair his mother felt as she lost her fight with cancer. He couldn't have been older than two. Kili, though, could have had a much better life if his parents hadn't been killed.
"I wish I could've saved your mom and dad for you," he whispered into the dark, blinking back tears as he thought of how much easier Kili's life would have been if he had been a little bit quicker.
"You tried. That's enough," Kili assured him quietly. "You know, I was so excited that day," he added after a few moments of silence, nostalgia and sorrow swirling through him. "My dad wasn't home a lot, you know? But he had promised to spend the entire weekend with us. Maybe… maybe if I hadn't bugged him so much to stay then he would still be alive…"
"Hey, no!" Fili protested as soon as he felt the trickle of guilt beginning course through Kili. He pressed closer to the younger man and tucked his chin over his head. "Your dad wanted to spend time with you because he loved you! The only people who are to blame for his death are the ones who blew your apartment up!"
"Why did they do it?" Kili asked in a choked voice. "Were we the targets or was there someone else in the building they wanted dead? Was it just because we were mutants or was there something else?"
"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I wish I did. But no matter who the target was, nobody would have the right to kill all those innocent people."
Kili snorted bitterly. "They weren't people, remember? They were mutants."
There were twenty people in the apartment building when it went up in flames, the bodies burnt and mangled beyond recognition. Most were presumed to be mutants, which explained the lack of medical records that could have identified the remains.
And because they were mutants, few people cared. Hell, even the mutants hadn't been too concerned, what with Erebor falling that same day.
Nobody had cared that Kili's world had disintegrated in front of his very eyes.
Why would they? Fili thought angrily. He was only a mutant.
But Fili cared. Fili would always care what happened to Kili. Would always put Kili first.
"We are people," he growled. "The world will have to realize that some day."
His vision from earlier, though, didn't bode well for that happening any time soon.
"I don't care about the rest of the world," Kili mumbled into his neck with a sigh. "I just care about you. Love you."
Fili smiled at his lover's sleep-heavy voice. "I love you too."
tbc…
