Oops. I kind of extended that one week deadline. Sorry, guys. School has been so fucking busy. But you're all still amazing and I love all of you.
Layla347: I mean, three months is soon, right? :( I'm so sorry. Here, have a lifetime supply of pizza rolls, on me.
Zstar1: I know! Now the real fun can begin!
Guest (wolfofhiddenmoons) : Thank you! Yes, you can definitely expect more angst-Alex. It wouldn't be our little Havok if there wasn't some angst, now would it? Your review made me smile so much! I just... I love you!
Musicfreak001: You da bomb dot com. Thank you.
GraveyardGirl666: Thanks, yo!
Guest: This is amazing? No. You is amazing.
A: I enjoy that you enjoy this story. I enjoy it a lot. I'm sorry it's taken me so long.
WonderlandInParadise: I KNOW DDDD: I'M A HORRIBLE PERSON I'M SORRY But thank you! I hope this makes up for it. And I promise it won't take me three months next time!
Lettie woke early the next morning. The sun wasn't yet shining through her windows as she made her way down the stairs into the kitchen. She had assumed that she would be the only person in the house awake and was so busy celebrating the fact that she had made it to the kitchen without getting lost that she didn't notice the woman sitting at the kitchen island with a smile on her face as she watched the mutant girls celebration dance. When Lettie finally stopped dancing and noticed the woman, she let out a pretty loud gasp/shriek.
"Moira! How long have you been there?!" Lettie asked, slightly out of breath.
"The whole time. I was simply appreciating your dance." The brown haired lady laughed.
"I'm just really happy. I didn't get lost trying to get to the kitchens!" Lettie explained as she poured herself a bowl of cereal.
"I understand," the older woman nodded. "This house is massive. I get turned around, too. Why are you up so early?"
"I'm not sure, actually. I just woke up. What do you make of everything? Honestly? You talk to Charles more than I do. Does he seem hopeful about us? About our powers?" Lettie asked.
"Yes, Lettie. He's excited. He sees so much potential in every one of you. Everything is gonna be good." Moira promised.
"I mean, we've already lost one of us though. It was so easy for Shaw to come in and just... and now Darwin is gone."
Moira's happy attitude quickly turned into one of concern. "Lettie, you guys weren't prepared. You didn't know what Shaw was capable or who he was. And even though you've all only had minimum training, it's better than what you had had at that point in time. I can't promise you that no more will be lost in this war, but I can promise you that none of you will go down without a fighting chance the next time." Moira had placed a comforting hand on Lettie's back while speaking and, oddly enough, it worked. Lettie felt herself calm down significantly.
"I... Thank you. Thank you, Moira. For comforting me. For being right. For being smart. For not hating mutants just because we're different... Thank you."
"Of course. And listen, you have to stay calm. Just focus on building your powers and your bonds with your new teammates." Moira gave her one last pat on the back before dumping her coffee cup in the sink and filling it with water before leaving the kitchen with one last smile at the red headed mutant.
Lettie sighed into the empty kitchen as she ate her cereal. So much had happened in the past week or so. It all seemed so surreal and she was simply waiting to wake up and find that it had all been a very confusing, lovely dream.
Good morning, friends. If you could all make your way down to the kitchens soon I would like to begin training a bit early today.
Lettie cringed as she felt a gentle nudge in her mind followed by Charles' voice in her head. Finishing up her cereal, she stood and washed up her bowl and Moira's coffee cup right as the mutants started piling into the kitchen. Erik was first. He was silent and grumpy as he walked in, not saying a word as he walked straight to the still mostly full coffee pot Moira had left. He poured himself a glass then sat at the island, sleep still obvious in his body.
"Good morning, Erik." Lettie tried to act as awake as possible. Erik simply gave a non-committal head jerk, signifying his good morning. Sean and Alex stumbled in together, both looking as dead as Erik. Raven came bouncing into the kitchen looking fully awake and ready to start the day. Charles and Hank were already in full conversation as they walked in with Moira.
"Excellent. Glad you're all down here already." Charles sounded surprised at what he saw.
"Yes well, it's hard to stay asleep when a strange voice is suddenly in your head." Erik pointed out.
"I apologize for the early morning, I do. However, I am excited to say that Hank has been working hard on studying all of your mutations and has created items that should be of great use for some of you." Charles excitedly told the group.
"They're still in testing stage, obviously. Still need to do some work and see how they'll actually handle." Hank said, clearly uncomfortable with the attention Charles had put on him.
"Yes well, that's why today is crucial," Charles pointed out. "Let's all grab some breakfast and then we can try out the first one. Sean, would you do the honors of going first today?" Sean looked scared and rather put out but shrugged his shoulders, showing that he didn't mind. "Lovely, lovely."
Most of the mutants chose to simply grab a cup of coffee for breakfast, still too asleep to focus on eating. When all were ready, they ventured as a group up to the second floor. Going into a room that resembled a study, Hank fitted Sean with an outfit that looked like yellow bat wings. When Charles instructed Sean to sit on the window seal, Lettie thought Sean was going to faint.
"You're going to make me jump, aren't you?" Sean asked fearfully.
"Not make you, no. I won't make you do anything. However, if you want to learn to use your powers to their fullest extent, this would be your best option. We have to know what you can do. Have you know what assistance you need."
As Sean resignedly climbed up to sit on the window seal Raven, Erik, Lettie and Alex piled on top of each other to watch from the window beside the one Sean was perched on, looking paler and clammier than Lettie had ever seen.
Sean had asked a question, to which Hank was giving some mumbo jumbo scientific answer to. All Lettie caught was Sean giving an unsatisfied huff and mumble, "Should carry me. That's reassuring. I'm going to die!"
Charles cut off the conversation before anything else could be said. "Oh, come on now. It's only one story. You won't die. Break an ankle maybe, but not die. Just don't forget to scream." He said, patting Sean on the back. Sean looked at the ground and gave a quick Catholic Sign of the Cross before he steadied himself.
The group in the window were all laughing, giddily. They weren't the ones preparing to jump out the window and they were excited to see if it would work.
"I've got a bad feeling about this." Lettie laughed.
"I've got a feeling it's going to be funny." Alex whisper laughed from where he was leaned on top of her. He gently grabbed her arm with his, subtly rubbing his fingers over her skin. He laughed, dipping his head down and giving him the perfect opportunity to whisper a "Good morning." in her ear. Lettie, equally as subtly, grabbed his hand softly in response.
Then Sean flew.
Straight to the ground.
He let out more of a yelp than a scream, and didn't throw out any waves that would have lifted his body. The four mutants leaning through the windows laughed, their laughter doubling when they saw the body imprint that was left from the red headed mutant currently crawling out of the bushes, a somewhat angry look on his face. The window group heard Charles, Moira and Hank go past them quickly and all four turned to follow them down to meet up with Sean. They all met up in the foyer on the first floor.
"That definitely could have gone better." Charles admitted.
"I hate to say it, but I don't think there was enough time. We need to be higher if we want this to work."
"Higher? HIGHER?! You really are trying to kill me, aren't you?" Sean said, his voice full of disbelief as he pulled twigs out of his helmet and stretched his arms and legs, trying to relieve the pain.
"We'll see what we can do." Charles said, though no one was sure who he was responding to. "Sean, you're done for the day. Go on and shower or sleep or whatever you want. And you may want to take a relief pill. There's a bottle above the sink in the kitchen."
"Since I don't really have a power to train, I think I'm just going to work out, if that's okay with you, Charles?" Raven asked.
"Sounds good. Hank, would you like to go for our run?"
Hank nodded and headed to his lab to train into his sweats and runners.
"Lettie, we don't have any special device for you yet, but would you be up to assisting with Alex's training as before?" Charles asked.
Lettie nodded, "Sure thing."
"The two of you meet me at the bunker in... let's say an hour?"
After agreeing, the mutants all went their separate ways, with Alex and Lettie going together up to their rooms. The walk up to the third floor was silent, Lettie lost in her thoughts on how grateful she was that Raven hadn't made a big deal out of their revelations from last night. The revelation when Lettie admitted, finally, that she had feelings for the tall, muscular, blond haired, blue eyed silent mutant beside her. Lettie hadn't ever really had feelings before. At least, not feelings like this. She didn't know what to do or how to act. Raven had given her suggestions, but they all seemed to be a bit much so Lettie decided to stick with what she knew... She would just be herself.
"What are you going to do for the next hour?" Alex asked as they arrived on the third floor.
"I'm not sure. I'm pretty tired, honestly. I was up before Charles woke us up this morning. I might just go lay in bed. What are you going to do?"
"Same here. I woke up earlier and couldn't get back to sleep. I was almost grateful when Charles told us to all come downstairs." Alex laughed.
Lettie joined him before, quickly and quietly, asking if he wanted to join her in her bed.
"What was that?" Alex asked. Lettie sighed, knowing he wasn't just asking to make her feel uncomfortable.
"I asked if you wanted to come join me in my bed." She said slightly louder and slower.
"I was hoping you'd ask." Alex said with a smile as they walked the few extra steps between his bedroom door and hers. He opened the door and ushered her in. "Ladies first."
"Oh, what a gentleman." Lettie laughed. Alex shut the door quietly behind them before he followed her into her bed. Lettie had laid on her side facing towards him, but Alex had laid slightly higher, where he was kind of perched up on the wall. He held his arm out, hoping she would know what he wanted and, thankfully, she did. Crawling the few inches between them, Lettie curled up in Alex's side, her head on his chest and one hand resting on the hip opposite her. His arm fell casually onto her hip and pulled her in closer.
"I don't want to take this too far. Or too fast. I just like being close to you." Alex mumbled quietly into the top of her head. "If you want me to stop or back off, just tell me. I'm sorry. I promise I won't be offended if you tell me you're not-"
"Alex." Lettie cut the rambling blond boy off. "Relax. It's fine. Trust me. If it wasn't fine, I wouldn't have just willingly crawled over here. I would have given you a face kind of like this-" Lettie pulled away and made her, 'You're joking, right? Please tell me you're joking' face. Alex laughed as Lettie laid her head back down.
"Good to know. I'll make sure to remember that face for future reference."
The two mutants fell into a peaceful, relaxing silence for several minutes. Finally, Lettie broke it.
"Are you nervous?"
"About what?" Alex asked, (ironically sounding nervous).
"Using your powers again. I mean, it's great that Hank has been working on something to help you but I bet that doesn't really calm your nerves that much..."
"Pretty nervous, yeah. I still feel like I'm going to blow through the walls of that bunker and just demolish anything that's in my path. I hope that whatever Hank designed for me works better than the one he designed for Sean." Alex and Lettie both laughed. "Honestly, I feel better knowing that you're there. For one, I know that if I blow through the walls, you won't be in the path. And then there's the fact that you're good. You're strong. You can put out the destruction and fires that my powers create. So yeah, I'm nervous. But at the same time, I'm not."
Lettie nodded her head, but stayed quiet. Him saying that made her nervous. What if she wasn't as strong as he thought she was? What if he needed her and she couldn't be there for him when it mattered most? Lettie mentally shook her head,telling herself she was being ridiculous. She would do everything in her power to ensure that she didn't let Alex down, but if she did, it's not like she meant enough to him for it to tear him apart or anything.
"I'm so tired." She mumbled into Alex's grey sweatshirt.
"Sleep."
"If I go to sleep, there's no way we're going to make it down to Charles in an hour."
"I'll watch the time. Promise. We'll make it."
"You're totally going to fall asleep." Lettie joked.
"Nah. We'll be fine. Sleep. You need it." Alex said as he began to soothingly rub her arm, side, and back. It didn't take long before Lettie was, somewhat unwillingly, obeying his order.
Lettie awoke to Alex leaning in close to her ear, whispering lowly for her to wake up. "We've got to be at the bunker in five minutes."
Lettie's eyes slowly opened and she twisted her head to look at Alex. "You actually woke us up on time!" She laughed, only half joking. Alex rolled his eyes as Lettie began to crawl out of the bed. Stretching her body, she groaned. "Even though it was only a little while, that was some of the best sleep I've had in a long time!"
"We should do it again sometime." Alex jokingly winked at her as they put on their shoes and walked to meet Charles. They were just walking across the gravel path when they saw Charles running towards them. Lettie was slightly worried until she saw a flash as Hank ran up behind Charles quickly, tapping him on the back. Lettie smiled. Hank was fast.
"Nice job, Hank. With feet like that, all you're missing is the red nose, right, Bozo?" Alex called, man-slapping Hank on the arm. Lettie could tell that Alex's quip really hurt Hank.
"I'm done here." He grumbled before stalking off to the house.
"Thanks, Alex." Charles said sternly before patting him on the shoulder and beginning towards the bunker.
"What was that?" Lettie asked. "Why are you so mean to him, Alex? He's a sweet guy. I doubt he's ever hurt anyone in his entire life."
"Mean to him?" Alex sounded genuinely confused. "I'm just picking on him. I don't mean it."
"Alex. You have to see that it's hurting his feelings. You're making fun of him for his mutation. He can't control that. That would be like me making fun of you because your mutation looks like extreme hula-hooping with much more disastrous results. You've gotta stop."
Alex didn't say anything as they continued down into the bunker. When they arrived, they saw that instead of just one mannequin, Charles had arranged three down on the far end of the bunker.
"Ah, there you are. Hank should be back with your device any time now." Charles spoke happily. "Are the two of you okay? You both look flustered."
Neither Lettie nor Alex looked at each other while telling Charles that they were fine, and Lettie only hoped that Charles made good on his promise to not read her mind. She was honestly upset. Alex was a sweet guy. He really was. But he was such an asshole to Hank. Poor, shy, smart Hank. Her thoughts were cut short as aforementioned Hank arrived, holding a vest with a circle thingy on the back. He handed the vest to Alex.
"Slip this on." There was no resentment in his voice, and Lettie felt that he had let the earlier mishap go. After Alex slipped on the vest, Charles zipped up one side as Hank fiddled with the front of it.
"Sexy." Alex joked as he looked down. Lettie giggled, but she had to admit that even with the ridiculous looking vest on, Alex looked good. Damn those arm muscles. Hank was going on, once again, in his scientific talk that no one else understood, except maybe Charles.
"Right. This time, I want you to hit the one in the middle – only the one in the middle, mind you." Charles told him, patting him on the back as he and Hank stepped through the door. Lettie went to follow them, pausing only to give Alex a hopeful smile and a whispered, "Good luck".
Gathered outside the door, ears pressed in to see what they could hear, the three mutants heard a loud whoosh, followed by another, which was instantly followed by a thud and a groan. The light was going off, announcing that there was a fire so Charles, confident in the vest and Alex's skill, opened the door. Alex was on the ground, apparently thrown back by his power. The fire was much more contained this time, but Lettie inwardly laughed because Alex did the exact opposite of what Charles had said – he had hit everything BUT the middle mannequin.
Charles was checking on Alex and Hank was sort of hovering by the door. As Charles pulled Alex to his feet, Lettie walked over to him. "You okay?" She asked.
"I'm fine. Just put that fire out."
"That vest helped a lot. It's much more contained this time!" Lettie tried to sound positive as she turned and began to focus on the fire.
"Hold on, Lettie." Charles stopped her. "I want you to see if can control where your power goes. Try and hit the mannequin on the right."
Thankful that her powers weren't dangerous like Alex's, Lettie tried to do as Charles had asked. Normally she would just pool the water and let it go, but this time she had a very specific target. She wasn't sure how to aim it, should she just focus only on the right mannequin? Could she aim? Lettie felt the familiar pulling in her stomach, and she focused on that at the same time that she focused on the right mannequin. She imagined the left mannequin completely dry, while the right one was wet. Not soaked, but wet enough to put the fire out. The pulling got stronger and stronger and right when it got almost painfully strong, Lettie let go. She felt an instant relief and opened her eyes, hoping it had worked.
It hadn't. The fire was out, but the entire end of the bunker was soaked. Frowning, she turned to Charles.
"I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of reading your mind, to see how you would control it."
"I don't mind. Continue."
"Try again, but this time, try using your hands to sort of guide the water in the right direction."
So Lettie repeated the process, time and time again, tweaking a small thing each time. But it didn't work. The end of the bunker only got more and more soaked until Lettie finally let out a groan of frustration mixed with tiredness.
"I can't anymore, Charles. My powers are getting tired."
"That's fine, love. You tried splendidly. Hank, let's see if we can't figure something out to help our water bender, yeah?" Hank nodded and the two began walking out of the bunker.
"We'll have lunch ready soon."
Lettie and Alex turned to each other. Neither had had what you would call a successful training day.
"You okay?" It was Alex's turn to ask.
"I'm fine. It's just tiring to use my powers that much at one time. I'm not use to it yet." Lettie smiled happily as the two began walking to the house together. "Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Did it feel different? Using the vest?"
"Yeah, it was weird. It was like I was kind of in control of it for once. Obviously I wasn't completely in control but for once it wasn't just bursting out of my body with a mind of its' own. I liked it."
The two mutants fell into a peaceful silence as they walked up to the third floor, before heading off to their separate rooms. Lettie got into the shower and could instantly feel her energy levels raising. Well, her powers energy levels. Her physical levels were low. Her catnap earlier had been nice, but she needed more of it.
Thirty minutes later, the entire house was gathered around the kitchen, eating a nice lunch.
"So." Was all Raven said before everyone groaned. That was a very mysterious sounding voice. "After lunch, we're going shopping!"
No one at the table mirrored her excitement.
"Oh, come on guys! It'll be fun. A chance to get away from the training and exclusiveness of the mansion."
"I'm going to sit this one out." Charles said. "I want you to be careful, trust your instincts. If anyone feels suspicious, leave. You've all learned enough to at least protect yourselves. Don't go making a show about being mutants, and don't use your powers unless necessary. Stay alert."
"I'm going to have to say no to this one, as well." Erik said immediately afterwards. Lettie thought he sounded entirely too happy to have an excuse to not join this excursion. "I'd like to work on my powers a bit, Charles. If that's alright with you."
"Sounds good, my friend."
"I'm going to stay here and work on everyone's devic-"
"Oh, no!" Raven cut Hank off. "You're not getting out of this!"
"But, I need t-"
"To live a little. You're a teenager like the rest of us. Come on. Have a little fun." Raven cut him off again. The two had a mini stare down before Hank dropped his gaze, which everyone took to be his consent.
Whether they were excited about the 'excursion' (Raven), completely dreading it (Hank and Alex), or just along for the ride (Moira, Lettie, and Sean), all five mutants and the mutant friendly human were gathered in a caravan that Charles had lent them for the day. Moira was driving with Raven acting as the map in the passenger seat, leaving, as always, Lettie stuck between Alex and Sean, and Hank in the back seat.
Within thirty minutes the group was walking into a store that Lettie was pretty sure she couldn't even afford to breath the air in. "Alright, guys. Whatever you want. Whatever you need. It's on us. Honest. And don't feel bad about it. Charles has more money than he knows what to do with. It's nice for him to be able to spend it on someone for a change." Raven told them before she instantly grabbed both Moira and Lettie, dragging them to pretty dresses and skirts and shirts and shoes and bags and why are there even this many things to buy? Lettie looked back at the three guys still awkwardly grouped together and just staring at the clothing racks. It was obvious that Hank still didn't want to be here and Alex still didn't want Charles paying for his stuff. Sean seemed to be on the same brainwave as Lettie, wondering why so many option were necessary and since when a skirt was worth $6.00.
In no time, however, the three girls were laughing and trying on clothes that they would never buy and Lettie found herself actually having fun. Raven left to go check on the guys and Lettie found herself staring in the mirror. She never would have imagined herself wearing these clothes, having fun trying on clothes, hanging out with other kids her age, much less with girls, and enjoying it.
It was four hours and five stores later that the group trudged back to the caravan, many bags in tow. They piled all the clothes in the back with Hank and everyone piled into their seats, no one talking much as they were all worn out. Lettie only had to glance at Alex before he threw his arm around her, pulling her into his chest, which brought a smile to her face. This was nice. Routine was nice. In a world with no routine, finding one was nice.
"Oh come on, Lettie. You don't wanna cuddle up with me again?" Sean teased from beside the two cuddled up mutants.
"Not in a million years." Lettie joked. "Now be quiet. Don't make this another ride that requires the quiet game."
And for once, Sean listened. When they arrived back at the mansion, everyone was asleep besides Moira and Raven. Charles greeted them in the car park, helping them take all the bags inside as they attempted to wake themselves. Everyone made sure to thank Charles so many times he eventually stopped replying. He only seemed a little hurt when everyone besides Erik turned down dinner for a trip to their beds instead.
As a group, they trudged up to the third floor, then bade each other good night as they walked off into their separate rooms. Finally it was just Raven, Alex, and Lettie left.
"Thanks, Rae. For forcing us to go. I honestly haven't had that much fun in a long time." Lettie smiled.
"Yeah, thanks." Alex agreed.
"Of course. We're all family now. It was a lot of fun." Raven sent a not to subtle wink in Lettie's direction before wishing them a good night and stalking off to her room.
"Do you want me to...?" Alex trailed off, but Lettie didn't need him to finish the sentence.
"If you don't mind." She smiled sheepishly.
He returned the smile before taking her bags and walking into her room. He placed both of their bags in a bunch by the window before kicking off his shoes. "I'm going to change. I'll be back in a few minutes."
Lettie nodded and took those minutes to get herself ready for bed. Teeth brushed, face washed, clothes changed, then in the bed. As stupid as it seemed – the two of them had shared a sleep space more times that Lettie found normal considering their short time of knowing each other – Lettie had butterflies. They only intensified when she heard a knock at the door.
Obeying her order to come in, Alex walked through the door and shut it quietly behind him. Lettie smiled at him and moved over in the bed, making even more room for him than there had been before. She watched in what she had hoped was a secretive way (but let's be honest, Lettie is super awkward so it was probably definitely super obvious) with a smile on her face as Alex walked over and crawled into the bed with her. This had become so natural. And when he scooted down and placed one arm under the pillow her head was on and one arm around her waist it was natural. And when he smiled at her it was natural. And when he told her, in a low raspy voice, that she was really something else it was natural. And when he leaned his face down to hers and pressed their lips together softly, but surely, it was natural.
Eh? Eh? Eh?
More kissey kissey next time.
I'm super tired. I don't think my author notes are making sense.
I love you guys.
What's your favorite song?
xxxMoe