Ah yes! The long-awaited lucky chapter 13. I hope you enjoy it, TheSparklyKitten! The first half of this chapter referenced and was inspired by the Big Hero 7 chapters of her story Heroes Of Flowers, which everyone should read.
We're kind of getting toward some plot. Some things are definitely going to be kicked off by these plots. A deep yearning inside Morgan is awakening... :D
Morgan had finally gotten up the nerve to tell Krei about the bug in his system and what she thought he should do about it and she wasn't going to back down. She wore her nicest gray knee-length skirt, a white button-up shirt, a pink cardigan, and heels. Seth always said that when she wore heels they wanted to climb her like a tree. She looked good and she felt good and she was ready to do the next right thing. Ian had even bought her a hot chocolate and told her where to wait for Krei, so really, everything was going great.
According to Ian, Krei was practicing his demonstration for the Krei Micro Battery. A closed rehearsal with just a few people in there making sure that Krei wasn't making a fool of himself. Morgan was waiting outside, sipping on her cocoa and reading an article about Dark Matter that Seth had seen and shared with her. Then she heard yelling. That wasn't good, but there wasn't exactly anything she could do, except pull up Hiro's contact and contemplate texting him. She didn't have her wings or one of Seth's glowing swords, she could grab the fire extinguisher though, burst in there, face- Face what? She didn't know who was in there with Krei, she didn't even know why she should want to defend him. He was an asshole. But he was her boss, and he wasn't all bad. She was paid a decent wage, and he seemed to be at least trying to make up for the damage he'd caused San Fransokyo…
Her moral dilemma was interrupted by two blondes, the criminals in question, running (dancing?) out of the auditorium. Morgan vaguely recognized the pair, though they seemed fairly separate now, and dropped her drink in surprise. The older one, not sure of her name but she knew she was the younger's mom, was just…
"Gorgeous," Morgan mumbled, backing into a corner as she watched the two run away. A shorter brunette girl raced after the younger of the crime duo, yelling,
"Juniper!"
Assuming that Krei had just been robbed and that Big Hero 6 would be showing up at some point, Morgan decided that this wasn't the right time to talk to Krei about a problem with his security system. So Morgan hurried away from the crime scene, replaying the scene in her mind and wondering why criminals were so freaking attractive.
Seth looked nervous when she came home.
"What's wrong, babe? Did you try to take over the city again?"
"Well I finished the glowing swords, you were right, they are an awful lot like lightsabers but no, that's not what I was worried about. Krei Tech was robbed! Why didn't you tell me? You could have gotten hurt, High Voltage is a dangerous duo."
"High Voltage! That's their name, I totally forgot. Juniper and, um…"
"Barb."
"Barb! Dude, she's a total milf. Like, oh my gosh."
Seth burst out laughing, "Glad you're okay, Morgan. Do you want to see the swords? I guess the prototype, I still need more time and better resources to finish them..."
"I'd love to see them, I could've used some glowing swords today. I can't believe it, Krei was robbed and I actually felt kind of like I should defend him. Was that the right thing to do? I can't even tell anymore. Maybe the world would be better if Krei wasn't in it, but in the moment I felt like I was supposed to be the hero."
Seth reached up and tucked a strand of hair behind Morgan's ear, "You care about people, Morgan. Caring about people is confusing and hard and so you're not always going to understand what you're supposed to do. Right now it's just enough that you care. But we'll keep working, okay? I've got your back. We're going to help more people if that's what you want. I've got your back."
"Thanks, Seth. I'll remember that." Morgan gazed into Seth's eyes, hardly remembering to blink. Seth's hand was still woven into her hair and for a moment Morgan forgot about all the milfs in the world.
Then Seth stepped back, "Okay, let me show you the swords."
"Right!" And that was that.
Of course, High Voltage couldn't stay on the lam forever. Hiro and the others made sure of that. Seth was a little pissy about the whole thing, though.
"Your favorite milf wrecked my favorite comic store."
"Richardson is an asshole, though."
"And so is Krei, but neither of them deserved to be screwed over by High Voltage."
"Richardson deserved it a little bit." Hiro had told Morgan a bit about what had happened.
"He's eleven!" Seth pointed out.
"He's what?" Hiro had not mentioned that.
"Yeah, he's just a little kid. A spoiled rich kid but a kid all the same."
"Huh. Somebody should really start treating him like an eleven-year-old. Sign him up for summer camp and give him a library card." Morgan leaned against their kitchen counter thoughtfully, "Same with that High Voltage girl, Juniper. And Hiro, even. It's not fair that they're not really experiencing any kind of normal childhood."
Seth hoisted themself onto the counter next to Morgan, "I love that you care about people. Even the people you don't like."
Morgan bumped Seth's legs with her shoulder, "I care about you the most. And I even like you."
A blush rose to Seth's face, "I know. I like you too."
"Do you want to go get dinner?" Morgan asked. They shared an apartment, they'd been friends for a long time, she didn't know how to make dinner sound like anything more than dinner. She desperately wanted Seth to read between the lines.
"Yeah, sure," There was nothing more in Seth's reply. Caring was confusing and hard, Morgan just wanted to find a way to make Seth understand exactly how much she cared.
So when SFIT announced the Dedication Gala for some fancy-schmancy Biotech Lab, Morgan decided to make the most of the opportunity.
"Babe, wanna be my date for the dedication gala? You can mingle with other innovators!" Morgan was clearly excited as she threw open the door to the apartment, not noticing that Seth had a guest.
"Oh, sorry, I agreed to be Bennet's date," Seth said, nodding at Bennet who sat next to them, sipping coffee.
"Hey, Bennet, nice to see you, um… Quick question, a couple actually, how did you get invited to the gala if you were never an SFIT student, and why aren't you taking your own partners?"
"Well, I'm doing the floral arrangement for the gala, so I got an invite. Seth and I want to wear matching tuxedos because Sadie always says neither of us has real style and also it's Dalton and Sadie's turn for a private date night. I get to have a date night with Dalton next. We're gonna go to a cooking class."
"That sounds lovely. I guess I'll go by myself, I don't want to be a third wheel."
"You could always join our tux gang," Seth offered.
Morgan beamed but shook her head, "I think I'll wear a dress. Mix things up a bit."
"You should wear that purple one, the long one with the leg slit, you look really nice in that one," Seth blurted.
"Will you wear a purple tie to match me? I have one I could loan you."
Seth blushed, "I think I'm supposed to match with Bennet…"
"I have two purple ties," Morgan said, "They're practically identical."
"Sounds good, thanks, Morgan," Bennet nodded, "Now you gotta tell me about that break-in at Krei Tech. Seth told me that you actually SAW the criminals."
"Yeah, those dancer ladies. The older one was a milf."
"Doesn't that mean Mother I'd Like to Fuck?"
"Yes…" Morgan said slowly.
"I don't understand allos," Bennet confessed, laughing a little.
"I'm not allo," Morgan said, "I just think that Barb is a milf."
"What about Liv Amara? Did you get a chance to see her? Is she a milf?"
"What? No, she's Seth's age. No one can be Seth's age and also be a milf. That lady is something else entirely. Probably full of herself-" Morgan noticed that Seth looked more depressed than usual.
"Hey, what's wrong? Have we said the word milf too many times?"
"Yeah, you have, but I'm fine."
"No you're not," Morgan said, putting her hand on Seth's shoulder.
"You can tell us," Bennet encouraged, "We're here for you."
"Just! Liv Amara is 23 and running this amazing company and funding SFIT buildings. I'm 23 and all I did today was fold the laundry I did three days ago."
"And that's enough," Morgan said gently, "Liv Amara is a young genius. I wasn't running around doing half the things Hiro's doing when I was 14 and no one expects us average geniuses to be keeping up with Miss Amara, either. Innovation takes time, babe. You're already so talented, give yourself some time for the rest of the world to realize it too."
Seth nodded, managing a smile.
"Mm, you two should just be happy that you're any kind of genius," Bennet said, "You're both leaps and miles ahead of me, hell, Dalton and Sadie are average geniuses in their own way. I'm just… Average."
Seth dragged their future brother-in-law into the biggest hug, "Don't get all mushy on us, Benny. You're a genius when it comes to arranging flowers, and that's enough for us."
"It's definitely enough for Dalton and Sadie," Morgan said, "They adore you and would never want you to feel bad because you started comparing yourself to them. You're special in your own right."
"Well, this has turned into the biggest pity party in the world," Bennet said, crushed under Seth and Morgan's hugs but smiling now.
"Right. And we have no time to throw a pity party, we need to be getting ready for the real party," Morgan said.
"Did you hear about those monster attacks?" Bennet asked as Morgan and Seth pulled away.
"Yeah, just another mess that Krei found himself in. Fortunately, I wasn't working then."
"Not just Krei. Fred nearly got seriously hurt when that creature attacked his house. Geez. First Richardson's Rare Comics gets trashed and then my friend gets attacked by a monster. Everything good keeps getting punished for being good," Seth sulked.
"It sucks that Fred got hurt, but there's no time to dwell on monsters. Big Hero 6 will handle it," Morgan tried to sound cheerful but she was worried about the monster as well. Well, she was worried about Hiro getting thrown around by the monster. It was enough to make her want to grab a glowing sword and suit up herself.
Instead, she put on heels and the long purple dress with the slit, and showed up to the gala with Bennet and Seth, the three of them looking like three million bucks.
"I'm going to try to talk to Liv Amara," Seth blurted when the trio had stocked up on egg rolls and crab cakes and grabbed some seats near the back.
"Really?" Morgan was a little surprised.
"Yeah. We've got stuff in common. We're the same age, we're both innovators… Maybe I was supposed to be here."
"Yeah! You've got this," Morgan cheered, surprised and delighted that Seth's ambition wasn't turned towards taking over the city.
"Show her what us average geniuses can do," Bennet encouraged, lightly punching them in the arm in a very brotherly way.
Seth took a deep breath to properly psych themself up and then headed over to Liv. Morgan and Bennet were at the edge of their seats, watching, too far away to eavesdrop. Seth got a handshake and in a few moments was showing Liv something on their phone. Liv was nodding along, smiling in a way that didn't seem fake or hollow like all the other people who had smiled and then passed up Seth's innovations.
When they came back to the table they were grinning, "I got an interview with Liv. She said that her company could always use more innovators on the tech side of Biotech. I think I have a real shot this time. I think I've made a real human connection. This night couldn't get any better."
Seth was right, the night couldn't get any better. Morgan wanted it to, so many words caught in her throat, so much more than congratulations, a confession interrupted by roaring and a loud whistle.
GoGo forced everyone out of the back exits and in the rush of the crowd, the trio was able to glance back and see the monster.
Morgan wished she had her wings and a glowing sword or two, she was horrified to see Hiro going toe-to-toe with that thing. He wasn't alone, he had plenty of back-up, but Morgan's heart couldn't slow down and the rush of adrenaline said that she should've been a part of that fight.
Seth held onto her arm as if they knew what she was thinking, not wanting to lose Morgan in the fray.
Bennet stood, frozen in place and eyes wide, staring at the monster as another teenager who wasn't wearing any armor at all started attacking the monster with stickers or something, and was only able to utter one thing as he faced a creature made of death, "Dilf…"