Author's Note: I own nothing.
18 Revealed
Honestly Glen was shaking he was so angry as he fumbled his keys into the door. Cooper laid a hand on his shoulder and Glen took a breath. He stepped into the living room and found both of his parents. His mother was dusting as his father picked over the books in the bookshelf, deciding what to read. It was only then that something occurred to him. Did his highly conservative, judgmental mother know?
"Dad, can I talk to you?" Somehow he kept his voice from shaking but his father always seemed to know when something was wrong. He nodded glancing at Kevin and Cooper who hesitated. Glen squeezed his hand.
"This is something I need to do alone." Cooper nodded and he and Kevin sat on the couch, both looking after Glen and his father in concern as Glen led his father up to his room. Frank raised an eyebrow at his son as he pushed open the door to his room and motioned his father inside.
"The Fortress of Solitude. When was the last time you let me in here?" Frank joked but the tension around Glen did not ease as he closed the door behind him. He took a deep breath. He was still shaking slightly but for a different reason. He wasn't sure he knew how to say what he was feeling. It felt like coming out to his parents all over again. Frank seemed to sense his discomfort and frowned. "Is everything ok? You know you can tell me anything."
"It's just this is a really big thing." Glen said and paced the room once, twice, three times and came to a halt in front of his father. He let out a breath. "Ok there really isn't another way to do this, other than to show you." Glen said and Frank frowned.
"You didn't get a tattoo did you? Your mother will panic." Frank asked and Glen shook his head holding out his hand and concentrating. Jay had described the feeling of using magic to him earlier that day.
'There's a light in you, you've already felt it, every time you mix up your little bottles you reach it without ever knowing it. Now you need to reach for it directly.' He did so now reaching into himself for that light inside him, the light he used to help his plants grow and to help his friends. He found it more easily this time. Light bloomed from his fingers and Frank's knees seemed to fail him. He sat down hard on Glen's bed. Surprisingly that didn't break his concentration. No it only broke after Frank buried his head in his hands and spoke.
"We thought we were safe. You and Ken never showed any signs, even after Dad's funeral. We kept such a close eye on you two after what happened with Jay." Glen shook his head.
"You knew?" Frank let out a sigh.
"We knew it was always a possibility. See my mother wasn't. Well she wasn't human." Glen shook his head but Frank mistook his confusion. "I know it's a bit of a shock, your mother took a while to come around to the idea of aliens being real." Glen cut him off.
"No, I already knew aliens are real. You knew about Jay?" Frank blinked at his son.
"You know about aliens?" A beat of silence passed. Franks eyes widened. "You know about your cousin!? How?" Glen paled. Stammering he tried for a moment to come up with an excuse, he failed and a feminine sigh rang through the room.
"Maybe because he's been lying to you for years? Since we're in the business of outing people's secrets today." And Jay resolved into sight from the shadows, sitting in the pulled out desk chair. Shadows chased her sigh, flowing from her lips as she shook her head. If Frank hadn't been sitting he would have fallen, the look on his face made that clear. He had gone pale as a sheet, staring at his missing niece. She glanced at the other corner.
"But I'm not the only one spying on private conversations am I Grandma?" The corner she was watching shimmered and a figure appeared. She wore the same plain gray cloak she had worn at the cove but the face was not the same. Her red hair was gray and now Glen could see the old woman who had been at Grandpa Max's funeral all those years ago. Frank recognized her too.
"Mom! What the actual fuck is going on?" He demanded and Glen snorted. He'd never actually heard his father swear before. Jay rolled her eyes at her uncle.
"Well long story short Glen has powers and has been helping his buddy Kevin and his super powered boyfriend Cooper fight space crime for years. Ever since they went on that little cross country trip at ten. Well I think Kevin was eleven at the time but semantics." She explained, examining her nails, shadows still spilling from her lips as she spoke. Frank blinked at her. Verdona laughed.
"You got my sense of humor that's for sure." She smiled at Jen who frowned right back. "But we get ahead of ourselves." She raised her hands and pink light flashed around the room. Suddenly they weren't in Glen's room anymore, they were in the living room. Natalie shrieked, the vase she'd been dusting toppled off the end table with a loud crash as Kevin and Cooper jumped. Jay rolled her eyes from the love seat as Natalie stared at her as though she'd seen a ghost. Then she fainted.
"Mom!" Glen made to leap for her but a bright pink cushion materialized underneath her before she could make it all the way to the floor. Verdona rolled her eyes.
"That was a bit dramatic." Verdona lamented and frowned. "Carl and Sandra should be here for this too." But power blazed from Jay and she glared at her grandmother, shadows dancing as though distressed.
"How about no." It wasn't a question and Verdona looked to be close to testing her granddaughter's boundaries but she backed down after a glance at the black lips pulled down in a frown and the shadows that chased her words. She raised a hand and a tray of tea and cookies appeared on the coffee table.
"Fine then. But we should talk about this." Verdona said taking a seat on the couch, with a wave of her hand Natalie floated onto a chair, still out cold.
"Not sure there's a lot to talk about really, everyones been lying to someone about something. Fun times with family." Jay pointed out. Frank sat next to his mother looking pale and shaky.
"You knew Mom?" He asked, his voice quavering. She waved a hand, the teapot pouring itself into a delicate tea cup.
"Not until yesterday dear. I came to drop off a flower at the tree Max and I used to meet at." She smiled wistfully. "I try to do that every year or so, but you know I'm not good with time." Jay sat up on the love seat as Glen sat next to Cooper who wrapped an arm around him. Kevin frowned from his spot next to Jay.
"Yeah, well times relative when you're a magical badass honestly." She commented and Verdona frowned.
"Ah yes the magic argument. The way human people understand it what we do is magic, but we manipulate the very fabric of the universe. Anodites were created from the Mana of this universe millions of millions of eons ago. That's what we are. Anodites. I will admit after Carl and Frank never showed the spark I didn't expect any of the Grandkids to have powers. Much less like this." Verdona commented taking a sip of her tea.
"Oh goody it has a name." Jay said her voice dripping sarcasm. Frank sat forward looking at his niece.
"You're gonna have to back up for a minute. I was half convinced you were dead. Where have you been for the last six years? What happened to you?" He asked shaking his head. Jay rolled her eyes, snatched up a cookie and leaned back on the love seat.
"That is a very long story Uncle Frank."
