Sorry, this chapter took some time coming! Hope you enjoy it. There are some things I thought about including in the chapter that didn't end up coming to fruition, perspectives that I don't necessarily want to dabble in just yet. I'm really leaning on leaving things out.
Every Saturday Morgan and her mom had lunch. They caught up on the week and enjoyed each other's company, it had been their tradition since Morgan started at SFIT. It had been just the two of them, it had been just the two of them since her dad had rolled out of their life years ago. Growing up, Morgan had had friends over now and then, but mostly it was her and her mom against the world.
Until Morgan met Tadashi. For a while, there had been a third at lunch. He joined in on the gossip, helped cook and clean up, and taught them secrets about brewing tea that only someone who'd been raised in a cafe would know. When he died, the third seat at the table seemed emptier than it had been when there had been no one at all and Morgan hadn't dusted off their set of teacups since.
"Look!" Honey Lemon declared with a grin, holding out her phone and showing off a cheery headline to brighten their breakfast.
Fred read aloud, "Krei Gives Back Thousands to Families Who Suffered in Buddy Guard Attack."
"That doesn't sound like him," GoGo commented.
"I know! Clearly, he's changing for the better! Maybe we inspired him to change and now he's going to help people!"
"Uh, guys? As much as I like Honey Lemon's theory, I don't think that's it." Hiro showed them a text on his phone from Mr. Krei himself.
"Hiro, you and your "friends" need to get down here ASAP," Fred read, adding, "Why'd he put friends in quotations? That's like super rude."
"What does that mean?" Honey asked.
"It means Krei didn't give away thousands, someone else did." The group let out a tired sigh.
"We'll go after class," Hiro said, "Fred, do some investigating while you can."
"Freddie's on the case," Fred agreed, looking around stealthily. Hiro let out another tired sigh, wondering what kind of criminal mastermind could be behind a robbery and set-up on this scale?
Morgan was giddy as she headed towards the garage. She'd been a little distracted all day, high on her victory. She'd hardly paid attention in her classes today, had thrown together her outfit, purple pants and a soft gray cropped NASA hoodie, and had applied her eyeliner a little too thick as her mind wandered back to last night. Her giddiness froze when she saw a nervous-looking Sadie, arms wrapped around her frame.
"Morgan, let's talk," Sadie stood outside the door to Seth's garage, an omen in a floral dress and denim jacket. The way she reached for first names instead of the friendly, "babe" made Morgan nervous, similar to any time her mom pulled out her middle name.
"Is Seth okay?" Morgan's face contorted into a nervous frown as she fiddled with her hoodie strings.
"They had a bad day. Mom said some stuff… Seth needs someone there for them right now. I knew you'd come. Thank you for always being there for Seth. I just wanted to warn you."
"What did your mom say?"
"It's really too personal for me to explain, but I'm sure Seth will tell you. You two have always shared everything." Sometimes Sadie resented the fact that Morgan was closer to her twin than she was. Right now, she was grateful for it, Seth needed someone in their corner.
Morgan reached out and drew Sadie into a hug, "Thanks for telling me. I'll go talk to them." Sadie squeezed her back, glancing at the door to the garage one more time.
"I'm sorry, Morgan, I have to go make some plans with Dalton. I'm moving out of here."
"Oh, wow. Tell your boyfriend hi, um, I'll see you… I don't know when I'll see you again if you're moving out."
"We'll get dinner some time, all of us."
"Sounds perfect," Morgan agreed and went inside to check on Seth.
Seth was curled up, knees to their chest, wearing an SFIT hoodie far too large for their tiny frame. They always wore clothes that didn't fit, but those clothes seemed to get even bigger when they were depressed. Seth didn't seem to notice Morgan come in until she sat next to them.
"Seth?" She said, sitting down next to them and holding out an arm. Seth fell towards her, head ending up in Morgan's lap. Morgan brushed the tears off Seth's face and began to run her fingers through their thick black hair until they felt better.
"Do you want to tell me what's wrong? It's okay if you need more time. I'm here to listen when you're ready to talk." Seth sat up, still leaning against their best friend for strength.
"Listen, Morgan, there's stuff I haven't told you…" Morgan felt her heart racing, but she swallowed her fear, preferring reassurance.
"It's okay, Seth. I'm not going to judge you. You can tell me anything." Seth glanced at Morgan and gathered their courage.
"I've been saving for a while, I'm getting top surgery."
"Seth, that's fantastic! You deserve nothing short of the body you feel comfortable in."
"Thanks, Morgan. Um… Some people don't agree with you."
It dawned on Morgan, "Your mom?"
"Yes. When she found out she was livid. She tried to tell me it was too dangerous, or that I'll change my mind in a year or two, but she's wrong. She just wants this to be a phase but it isn't. She refuses to acknowledge my identity and she thinks that this," Seth gestured at their chest, "is a pretty permanent stance."
"I'm glad you're standing up to her, Seth."
"She said that if I went through with the surgery I wouldn't be welcome in her house. I'm going to be losing my home and my workshop space because I just can't live with dysphoria anymore. I don't know if I have enough money for surgery and a new place and I certainly can't afford a workshop… Dad gave me $500 and I have my job but it's all crashing down on me…"
"Hey, hey, it's not all crashing down on you, not while I'm here, I won't let it. There's room in my place, I'm sure it would be alright if you stayed as long as you need." Morgan didn't technically have any ownership over her apartment, since, in a roundabout way, her dad paid the rent, with the money Adrianna Lynch had saved for her from her ex-husband's child support. Morgan had a job on campus, saving for a future not supported by her parents. She would gladly use the support she had now to help her best friend.
"I can't-"
"Yes. You can. I'll help you pack, we'll be out before your appointment. I'll talk to my mom, and you'll never have to see yours again if you don't want to."
"I do want to, Morgan. I want to see her again. I want her to see me and not think about the daughter she lost but the child she has."
"I know, Seth. Come live with me. Maybe when she has some space to miss you she'll see you as you are.
"She won't miss me. She'll miss her idea of me."
"She'll miss you," Morgan promised, "who wouldn't? You're spectacular…" It's hard to tell a blush from a face flushed from crying.
"I'll ask my mom at lunch tomorrow and after she says yes I can come over and we can get started on packing."
"I've got a date tomorrow," Seth said, and, seeing the smile and the lift of Morgan's eyebrows added, "Fred invited me to lunch." Morgan's eyebrows sank with no more questions. The date Seth referred to was a playdate for two grown-up kids who enjoyed playing with figurines.
"Be careful," Morgan said, "Fred is one of them."
"I know we can't trust them as superheroes, since we're evil now, but Fred is still my friend."
"We are not evil, we did the right thing."
"By stealing thousands of dollars."
"From an incredibly wealthy, bad man."
"Your dad is pretty wealthy and also not the best, would you want him to lose his money because you deemed that the right thing to do?"
"That's literally what child support is, so yes. I'll talk to my mom tomorrow. Enjoy your playdate!"
"I know you're mocking me, but I will."
"I can stay a little longer if you want me to."
"Don't you have a shift at the library?"
"Yes."
"Go to work, weirdo. I'm not going to live with some unemployed loser." Morgan laughed.
"Fine, fine, I'll go. But let me know if you need anything at all."
"Come by on Sunday. I'll tell you about my playdate and you can tell me what I owe you towards rent." Before Morgan could protest Seth was up and herding her towards the door so she wouldn't miss her shift at the library.
As Morgan was arriving on campus, Hiro and his friends were leaving in armor to go talk to Krei. None of them were very excited about it. Krei essentially blackmailed them into helping and now they were at the man's beck and call. Someone had robbed him, not that they were all that surprised. It seemed to be a frequent occurrence. The only difference between this time and the others was that the stolen goods seemed to go right back into the community. Nevertheless, a Robin Hood was still a thief.
"I've kept my ears open," Fred said, "there might be a new supervillain on the rise."
Hiro was concerned but he knew that you had to take Fred's words with a grain of salt, "Yeah? What've you heard?"
"An angel-" Gogo snorted but Fred continued, "Someone said they saw the figure of an angel launching off of the apartment building near them. The angel could've robbed Krei."
"The robbery was an inside job," GoGo said.
"Wanna bet?" Fred asked.
"What's on the table?"
"I'll give you my favorite comic if you win."
"I don't want that."
"Hmm. We'll think of something," Fred said, "when we see who wins."
"Okay," GoGo agreed.
"We'll see what Krei has to say, do some investigating around the company, and if it's all dead-ends we'll look into that angel of yours tomorrow," Hiro promised. Fred pumped his fists and then sobered up to discuss the robbery with Krei.
Krei was seeing red.
"Someone stole my money and made it look like I gave it away as charity! I can't break the story that I was robbed or I'll look like the kind of person who doesn't give away money to charity! What kind of monster would do that?"
"What kind of monster would give money to charity," GoGo muttered under her breath.
"Somebody's guardian angel," Fred whispered towards her.
"We'll find who did it," Hiro said.
"Good. I can't very well get my money back, it would be a PR nightmare, the crook needs to be punished quietly. Try not to give too much away while you're questioning people."
"Of course." Hiro was angry too, more at Krei than Fred's angel. They turned to leave.
"Aren't you going to question Judy?" Krei demanded. The whole team looked at Krei's loyal assistant.
"She didn't do it," GoGo said, leaving no room for argument. And then they walked out and began their interrogations.
They spent the better part of the rest of the day talking to Krei's employees and the people who had been paid out. They tried their best to dance around the issue and unsurprisingly ended up empty-handed.
"The angel," Fred said.
"Yeah, we'll investigate tomorrow," Hiro agreed tiredly.
"I can't come, I have a date tomorrow."
"Ooh, Freddie…" Honey Lemon wiggled her eyebrows at him.
"Friend date," he clarified, "with Seth."
"Who's Seth again?" Hiro asked since the name sounded vaguely familiar.
"Oh, they were an engineering major. They just graduated. Seth has like, the third coolest collection of action figures in the city."
"You have the first?" Hiro guessed as they headed back.
"Yup," Fred said proudly.
"Who has the second?" Wasabi wondered.
"Unfortunately, that belongs to my nemesis."
"Ugh, I hate that kid," GoGo muttered, shuddering.
"Amen to that," Fred agreed, "now, to settle the terms of the bet…"
"We still don't know that your angel did it, I don't lose until your theory is proven."
"That's fair. Gives me more time to think of what I'm gonna win."
"Don't push it," GoGo said, narrowing her eyes at him.
"I won't!" He promised, holding up his hand in a solemn salute.
Morgan was nervous for brunch, for the first time since Tadashi had started eating with them. She knew her mom would be super welcoming to Seth, but still, a lot was on the line. She just wanted her friend to feel safe and comfortable, and if brunch went badly then she had no idea where Seth would end up and that scared her.
"Morgan, is there something on your mind? You look upset," Adrianna mentioned, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"Ah, yeah, stressful week."
"Tell me about it, mija, if you want to."
"Uh, yeah. Let's just enjoy the food, first."
"Alright, whatever you need." They ate for a while, and then her mom asked, "So, how's Skylar?"
"Mom, they go by Seth now."
"Oh, so sorry dear. I won't get that wrong again."
"Seth is actually what I wanted to talk about, but I didn't know how to bring it up…"
"You can tell me anything," Adrianna promised.
"I know. Um… So, Seth is being kicked out by their mother for their gender presentation and… And I was wondering if I could let them stay with me."
"Of course, mija. Seth is more than welcome. I'd give their mother a piece of my mind if you wanted me to."
"That's not necessary, mom. Thank you. I can't wait to tell them. I promised Seth that I wouldn't let the world crash down on them and now I know I can keep my word." She didn't know how they would make it work as roommates, but she was excited to face the world with Seth by her side.
ReeRee- This is the same plot as Proud to be your brother
I know but-
Also Tropes
I know but this existed first. This story got me through so many shifts of my summer job. I just happened to polish up those stories first, thus the similarities of the whole "and they were roommates" thing.