A bit of a late update, thank you for your patience. And if you're waiting for updates on my other stories, I'm going to have to ask you to be even more patient. Going through a rough patch of RL. Thankfully I have a few chapters of this fic in advance.
John and Clarice are welcomed into John's apartment by an enthusiastic Zingo. Clarice pets her while John props his cane against the wall and invites her in.
"Ah, we were wondering if we were going to see you today."
Clarice looks up from Zingo's fur to see Lorna greet John, a smirk on her face. "Hi, Clarice," she adds, her smirk growing even more.
Marcos is behind her, sitting at the table in front of a laptop.
"We were looking over the café's expenses and she's bored," he says to Clarice with a wink. "Ignore her."
"I thought John did the books?" Clarice asks.
"We can't let him do everything," Marcos says.
"We should," Lorna says. "It's annoying. And he likes it."
"Do I?" John asks, feigning innocence.
"I'm pretty sure he only does it for free because he thinks he should be paying us back for living here, Lorna," Marcos says.
"I know, I'm just teasing," Lorna says. "And you don't owe us anything, John."
"We've had this conversation before," John sighs.
"And we'll probably have it again," Marcos says. "But not right now. Poor Clarice doesn't need to listen to this. You guys had a nice evening?"
Clarice wonders if he's teasing them as well, but there's nothing but kindness in his voice, and teasing is more Lorna's department.
"We really did," she says, looking at John for confirmation.
"Better than nice," John says. Lorna smirks again, but he gives her a friendly glare, and she doesn't comment. "But I'm actually here to take a shower, so I'll go do that. You okay here with these two?" he asks Clarice.
"Of course."
It could have been weird, finding herself suddenly in the house of her employers, who happen to live with the man she just spent the night with. But it's not, because Marcos and Lorna have always been friendly beyond the bonds of a purely professional relationship, and they're truly on their way to becoming close friends.
John limps to his bedroom and, a few minutes later, into the bathroom with an armful of fresh clothes. Marcos waves Clarice over to the table and she sits beside him.
"You want something to drink while you wait?" Lorna asks her.
"Sure," Clarice says. "Whatever you have."
"I was about to make myself some coffee to wake up a bit more," Lorna says. "Mornings are a bit complicated for me these days."
"Morning sickness?" Clarice asks. She's noticed that Lorna rarely comes down to the café before ten recently.
"Yes, and I'm pretty tired. But I've been told it's all normal."
"I could use some coffee too," Clarice says. "I got up way too early."
"Oh, you've discovered John-o'clock in the morning," Marcos laughs. "On a Sunday. Poor you."
Clarice snorts at the pun. "I'm pretty sure he let me sleep in," she says. "How he gets enough sleep to function−"
"He doesn't," Lorna says. "He just runs on too little sleep until his body can't function anymore. He's been like that for as long as I remember."
"What happens when he crashes?"
Lorna shrugs. "I hope you don't get to see, but you probably will."
Clarice doesn't push, sensing a touchy subject.
"By the way, I wanted to ask you something," Lorna says. "With the weather getting warm again, Marcos and I have been thinking about doing a picnic one of these days. It's a bit of a tradition, we've done it with just the two of us and John whenever he was stateside for the last few years. We have this spot that we love by a lake outside the city. We were wondering if you'd like to come too."
"It sounds nice," Clarice says. "If John−"
"I haven't really checked with him, but I'm sure he'll want you to come", Lorna interrupts her. "And you're not just his girlfriend. To us, I mean. It wouldn't really be like a double date, just a nice time out as friends."
"Then sure," Clarice nods.
"Between the café and the center, the only day we all have free is Sunday," Marcos says. "We're flying out to Lorna's aunt next weekend, but the Sunday after that? Are you free?"
"I don't have anything planned," Clarice says.
"Then it's settled," Lorna says.
"Don't you need to check with John first?" Clarice asks, amused.
"Not if he's taking a ridiculous amount of time in the shower."
Clarice laughs, then frowns when she remembers why he couldn't take a shower at her place.
"Do you know how I can get, um, accommodations installed in my bathroom?"
"Wow, you already want to do that for him?" Lorna raises her eyebrows.
"I don't have a lot of money, but−"
"Relax, I'm just teasing you. But I'm genuinely impressed. Listen, the best advice I can give you is to ask John what could be useful to him. It's unlikely that your bathroom can be made fully wheelchair-accessible, but he doesn't necessarily need that. And if you need bars installed, I can do that for you."
"What are you talking about?"
Clarice turns to see John come out of the bathroom, wearing a tee-shirt at least a size to small for his upper body shape, his hair wet. She can't help her eyes going to his muscular arms, admiring the view, though she had plenty of time last night to explore his body.
"I was wondering about making my bathroom accessible to you," Clarice says.
"Clarice, you shouldn't do that for me," John shakes his head, dropping onto a chair. "It's too much."
"It seems like a reasonable way to make my place more welcoming to you. I want you to come back there, but if you can't use the bathroom−"
"It's just the shower, and it's okay. I could probably just bring a stool that can get wet."
"Doesn't the seat need to be fixed to the wall?" Lorna asks.
"Only when I needed to transfer from the wheelchair," John answers, a little uncomfortably. Clarice isn't sure if it's because this conversation is happening in front of Lorna and Marcos, or if he's still hesitant to be open with her about this.
"I can get a new stool," Clarice says. "What about bars?"
"Seriously, Clarice, this is unnecessary," John says.
"I want to do it. Now that we've sort of solved the stairs issue, don't you want to keep coming over?"
It will be easier if John doesn't have to come back here to shower, for sure. As for spending the night here, Clarice doesn't think she's ready to do it in the next room to Lorna and Marcos's. That's the issue with roommates.
"Yeah, I do," John concedes.
"Then it's settled," Lorna says excitedly. "I'll get some metal and we can come over to your place sometime to install those bars."
John rolls his eyes, but gives up on protesting. Clarice gives Lorna a bright smile, then turns a more unsure one toward John. Is he actually upset about her wanting to do this for him? He gives her a reassuring nod and she relaxes. He's not angry with her.
"We were saying that we could do that picnic on Sunday after next," Marcos says.
"Sounds good," John says. "Wait, you've already invited Clarice?"
"You were taking ages in the shower!" Lorna exclaims.
"You could at least have let me explain. Clarice, you don't have to come if you don't want to. I know those two can be a little...overwhelming."
"You mean friendly?" Lorna snorts, at the same time as Clarice says, "I'm game if you want me."
"I'd love for you to come," John answers her, ignoring Lorna. "I just don't want you to feel pressured or anything."
"Don't worry, I'm not," Clarice smiles. She turns back to Marcos. "So you said you were flying out next weekend?"
"Yes, to Lorna's aunt," Marcos answers.
"She lives up in Virginia," Lorna explains. "She raised me. I don't go back there often, but I want to see her before the baby's born."
"Of course," Clarice says. "You two have a good relationship?"
"We do now," Lorna says. "We had a rough patch when I was a teenager, and we didn't really speak for a few years after I graduated. But we've been calling each other a lot more since I got pregnant. She never carried children of her own, but she's happy that she's going to be a great aunt, or really a grandmother. She's the only grandparent this kid will have, so I'd like them to know her."
"You don't have any family?" Clarice asks Marcos.
"Not really. My parents are both dead. I probably have some siblings still back in Bogota, but I never really knew them. I was the oldest by several years, and they threw me out when I was thirteen."
"And my parents died in a car crash when I was little," Lorna says. "Well, my mother and step-father, anyway. My birth father is...uh, it's complicated."
Clarice blinks at that, but doesn't asks questions Lorna obviously doesn't want to answer. "Were any of them mutants?" she asks instead.
Lorna and Marcos look at each other, communicating something Clarice doesn't understand.
"Like I said, it's complicated," Lorna answers. "But my mother was human, and so is my aunt."
"My parents thought mutants were servants of the devil," Marcos says sarcastically. "It's actually ironic that my power affects light. In terms of religious symbolism, it's...interesting. You know, Lucifer, angels, all that."
"My parents are human too," John says quietly. Clarice notes the present tense and realizes that she doesn't know anything about his family. "But my little brother is a mutant."
"I didn't know you have a brother," Clarice says.
"I haven't seen him in a long time. I haven't been home since I got to the Institute."
"The Institute?"
"The high school I went to, Xavier's School. But we always called it the Institute. That's where Lorna and I met," John answers.
"It's a school for mutants," Lorna adds. "In Westchester, NY."
"You went to a school for mutants?" Clarice asks.
She's never even heard of such a school. It must be private and expensive, most likely. John and Lorna don't seem to come from wealthy families, but who knows, after all. She knows nothing of their backgrounds. She feels a strange rush of envy, she who had to deal with being shunned and expelled multiple times from local public schools because of her very visible mutation.
"Yeah, it was a good place," John says. He must sense her discomfort, because he changes the subject. "Anyway, I haven't been back to the Nation since I was fourteen. I don't even know for sure if my parents and James are still there."
So he grew up on a Nation, which was most likely not rolling in money. She'll have to ask him, some day, how he ended up in a private school in New York, but not right now, not in front of Marcos and Lorna.
"I never knew my parents," she says instead. "My mother dropped me off in an orphanage when I was a baby. I have her name, but she died years ago."
"Do you know anything else about her? Or your father?" Lorna asks.
"Not really. She was definitely a mutant, on the one picture I've seen she had nearly purple skin. That's all I have. I grew up in foster care."
"My...birth father was a mutant, too," Lorna says. "It's very likely that our kid will be as well," she changes the subject, putting a hand on her belly, which is just starting to swell.
"I try to imagine what power they'll have, sometimes," Marcos adds, "but I don't want to fixate my mind on an idea. It's going to be fantastic whatever it is."
"A mix between your powers would be quite something," Clarice says.
"Wait, you've never seen them kiss, have you?" John asks her.
"What?"
"We, uh...when we get emotional about each other while touching, our powers mix in a weird way and make an aurora borealis," Lorna explains.
"What's that?"
"Like the Northern Lights."
"Wow," Clarice says.
"It sounds really cheesy said out loud," Marcos laughs.
"Or romantic. I've never heard of people mixing their powers before."
"Sometimes siblings can do it," John says. "But it's rare."
"Our powers put together create the exact conditions for an aurora," Lorna says. "Even similar abilities are always different in some way, so getting the perfect fit like us doesn't happen often. It's a...happy coincidence. Although it's completely useless except aesthetically."
"I'm not sure I believe in soulmates," Marcos says, "but if I did I'd take it as a sign."
"That's way too cheesy," Lorna says. "There's a pretty simple physics explanation."
"What, for us meeting and deciding to try kissing?" Marcos teases.
Lorna smiles and leans in to kiss him. Clarice can just see the hint of green and pink light starting to dance around them before Lorna pulls away with a grimace.
"I am not putting on a show," she says. "No disrespect, Clarice, but this feels too much like we're doing it for an audience."
"I get it," Clarice laughs. "I guess I'll just have to wait until I catch you in the backroom."
She's surprised herself at how easy the banter is. She's listened to the three of them interact in this way before, in the café, but she's never yet felt comfortable joining in.
"What? We don't−" Lorna interrupts herself at John's snort.
"Sure you don't," he says. "Even if I didn't walk in on you at least once a week, I can hear you, remember?"
"Uh, Lorna, I guess he has a point," Marcos says. "We'll have to be quieter."
"Or we could just invite him in, since he likes listening so much," Lorna deadpans. She gives Clarice a side glance to check that she's not taking it seriously, and Clarice cracks up.
"I'd watch that," she says.
It's all it take for the four of them to burst out laughing.
I hope you liked this chapter. It wasn't completely planned, but I wanted to see Marcos and Lorna a bit more because the next few chapters will be very Thunderblink-centered.
Tell me what you think!