Back with a new chapter of Apricity! I truly hope that you are enjoying this story. I finished my project, and you can find it on my profile.

It's called Local Signaling Hormones. It's a Legion of Super Heroes fic. If you are part of the fandom, please check it out!

Enjoy!


Shaking his head again, he groaned "Next." The punk student in front of him frowned, and bared his teeth.

"You're going to regret not choosing me." the kid warned agressively. Picking up his studded backpack, he pulled the door open, and then slammed it shut. Victor swore he could hear the student stomp all the way down the hallway.

Then he heard yet another knock on his door. Walking over to it hesitantly, he opened it to reveal another student looking for an internship. Straightening up, the teenager slicked back his hair and said "Oh, Sir! It's such an honor to meet you. I read your report on..."

Noticing that Mr. Fries wasn't listening to him, but rather rubbing his forehead, the student gasped. Dusting off his argyled sweater vest, he asked hurriedly "Are you okay? Was it something I said?"

Victor shook his head, which caused him to wince again. "Water break." he weakly called.

The nerdy student noticed that Victor was going to climb up the stairs to get some water. Running briskly to him, the student said "I'll get some water, you just sit down, Sir."

Annoyed, Victor complied and went back to his office. As he sat in his chair, Victor's stomach churned, so he set his head on his desk.

Victor wanted to be done with the interviews, especially because of the next client. He seemed like a suck-up, and Victor hated suck-ups.

Taking an opaque red bottle from his desk, he pulled out two pills and placed them on the wooden surface. Soon after that, the preppy student ran into the room with a glass of water.

Shakily placing it on the wooden desk, he sat in the chair, panting. Swallowing the pills, Victor rubbed his sore eyes.

The young student nervously spoke "I don't believe that I introduced myself. My name is Parker Drew."

Victor nodded. With his pen, he showed Parker his name on the long list of candidates. Twiddling with a button on his Oxford button, he paled slightly, knowing what would happen next.

Victor made a show of running a line through his name with inky grace. "Next." Victor sighed, obviously bored with the awkward discussion. Parker nodded sadly.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time, Mr. Fries." He continued as he stood up from the seat. Rubbing his hands, he stood by the door to see if Victor would change his mind. After a miute of silence, he opened the door and left as quietly as humanely possible.

As soon as the door closed, Victor understood that he probably just missed his most willing participant. At least he was eager to do the job.

He heard another knock on the door, and nearly collapsed in his chair. He felt physically unable to do anymore interviews. It had been a week since the scientific journal emailed him.

Ever since, teenagers finishing highschool or starting college flocked to his office. He had gone through twenty-eight of the thirty-six student in the area, and found no one who could help in the way that he needed.

By now, he was running out of hope. It was extremely frustrating that no one met his expectations. They weren't even that high.

Each interview brought him down further. Dragging himself out of his comfortable courdoroy seat, he opened the door to find the Head of Science, Ferris Boyle. Surprised, he pushed back his messy brown hair and dusted off his striped button up shirt.

"Hello, Victor." The tall man smailed warmly. He clapped a hand over Victor's shoulder, and pulled him close.

"I haven't seen you in forever, pal. Why don't you come to the game nights that our compang throws. They are there for us to become more unifed. As a company, you know?" He reasoned.

Victor rolled his eyes. "You know exactly why I don't go. Plus, no one exactly likes being in my company." He took Ferris' hand and pulled it off his shoulder.

"Well," Ferris began, clapping his hands together, "You aren't exactly the easiest man to be around."

Victor sat on his desk and picked up his ballpoint pen. He pointed it straight a Ferris and said "Exactly."

Knowing he wouldn't win the arguement, he said exasperatedly "Anyways, I have a favor to ask you." He paused to see if Victor would ourtight reject him. He didn't.

"So, I understand that you have been looking for a partner to help you with your experiments."

Victor slowly nodded. He stood up, and faced his lab. "I decided that someone should know what to do with my work if something happens to me. I don't want it to be shoved away the minute I leave." Jumping to conclusions, he accused "You aren't coming her for the job, are you?"

Waving his hands infront of him, he retorted "As if I have the knowledge for that." Shrugging, Ferris continued "I have some high class friends, Mr. Edmund Summers and Mrs. Heather Summers. As you know, they have a daughter, named Nora who is fortunate enough to go to private school. Unfortunately, she is, therefore, not included on your list."

Folding his arms, Victor turned around and raised his eyebrows.

"Now why would that happen, Mr. Boyle?"

Looking like a cornered animal, he stuttered. "W-well, the program you have created gives the interns credits that help pay for college. Private schools were not included, because attending one assumes that the student has the means to pay for their own college."

It sounded reasonable, at the very least.

"Get back to your original arguement, Ferris." Victor commanded.

Visibly retracing his steps, Ferris pleaded "Will you please interview her? It would mean everything to me, and her family."

"Of course, Ferris. But only this once." He conceded.

"I will contact them immediately. Right now, Miss Summers is in Montreal. She is doing a ballet performance there, and will be back in two weeks. Thank you so much, Victor." Ferris sped out the door, and up the stairs.

Gently pushing the door closed, Victor racked his mind for that specific name. He knew the Summers were a high class family in Gotham, but it still bothered him.

Slouching in his chair, he turned the power button on, and waited as his computer flickered on. He logged on, and clicked the search bar. Then, he typed in 'Nora Summers'. He quckly looked around his office, simply to assure himself that no one was watching or judging him.

After a few moments, the page loaded. Scrolling down a bit, he looked for a picture. Once he found one, memories started flodding his brain. Nora Summers! He used to babysit her when he was sixteen to pay for science camp.

She was eight then, so she would be sixteen, almost seventeen now. How small the world was. Not only that, but she shared similar interests. He must've rubbed off on her more than he thought.

He clicked on a different page, which highlighted her ballet performances. He couldn't believe that his little Nora had accomplished so much by the age sixteen.

Watching one of her videos, Victor was amazed at her elegance and innate grace. After it had finished, he scrolled down to look at the comments. Many others were impressed. One stood out to Victor, and not in a good way.

The comment read 'Just imagine all the flexibility, but in bed! Ha! That's so hot.'

Victor narrowed his eyes. How dare someone defile Nora's personality. It was so rude and uncalled for that Victor nearly exploded on the spot. He immediately flagged the comment, which hopefully would get removed for its vulgarity.

He decided then and there that he would gladly interview Nora. He wouldn't even consider it a favor. He would do it for Nora.

For a minute, he contemplated if Ferris knew that Nora and himself had history. He might've mentioned it to him at the beginning of his work experience, but no other time. It had to be luck.

Feeling elated, Victor wondered if Nora remembered him too. It would be the only reason that she would pursue Cryobiology and Cryonics, right?

Bookmarking the tabs, he turned off his computer. Pushing his chair into the desk, he picked up his bag and left his office.

Walking up the plethora of stairs, he left the building, exhausted as always. He walked briskly to get to his apartment as fast as possible. If he didn't get back soon, his cousin Heinrich would order pizza again. Victor couldn't stand pizza after the many times of ordering it each week.

Not only that, but he wanted to go through some of his old belongings in storage. He hoped that his parents kept some of the drawings and letters Nora and him made together. Of course they would. His folks were awfully sentimental.

They always teased him because of the job. They often told him how enfatuated Nora was with Victor when he left for college, but he hadn't cared. Hopefully that carelessness hadn't ruined their innocent relationship.

Victor distinctly remembered a time when his parents had called him during his studying.

He was sitting at his desk in his college dorm. His roommate was off at some end of the year party. Victor, however, was studying diligently for finals. He knew that he would ace them, but it didn't hurt to be overprepared.

Just as he finished an appropriate response for one of his timed essays, the phone began ringing. Normally, it rang for his roommate, but the caller id showed his parent's number. Furrowing his eyebrows, he put it to his ear, and answered.

"Hello?"

A warm voice greeted him in his cool dorm room. "Hi, Victor." He shivered slightly, and closed his window which was the source of the chilly air.

"What's going on at home?" Victor asked, trying to sound interested.

His mom replied "Well, something exciting! Do you remember Nora? You used to babysit her."

He replied cheekily "How could I forget her? What happened?" His tone was engaged, but his mind was distracted.

"She just started highschool! And she made the Gotham Ballet Academy. Aren't you excited for her? Perhaps you should write her a letter..."

Sighing, Victor replied "You know that nothing happened. It was a childhood fantasy. She surely got over it." His mother giggled.

"Maybe. But you should write the letter anyways. It's only polite. Anyways, do you need anything?"

Victor denied her, and explained that he was studying. Eventually, she gave up trying to converse with him, and hung up.

He felt relieved. For a minute, he felt an obligation to actually write the letter, but the feeling left him swiftly.

He remained steadfast in his studies.

Now, Victor felt guilty for not writing the letter. He doubted that it would make a difference, but he would never know. Walking up to his room, he pulled out his room key, pushed it in, and opened the door. He noticed that the shower was on, so he assumed that cousin was still in there.

He yelled through the door "DID YOU ORDER PIZZA?"

His cousin took a minute to answer "NO. WILL YOU MAKE SOMETHING?"

Victor yelled back "OF COURSE."

Putting on a pair of warm pajama pants, Victor walked out of the double bedroom and into the living room, where the kitchen was located. Stirring up some pasta and warming up some pasta sauce, Victor made makeshift spaghetti for dinner. Heinrich would eat it, no matter what.

Since Heinrich had yet to come out of the shower, Victor began and finished eating without him. He left the leftovers on the microwave so they would stay warm for Heinrich.

On his way back to the bedroom, he turned the T.V. off. His cousin always left it running.

He laid on his bed, and proptly fell asleep knowing the day turned out better than he thought it would.