smergrl3495: Like I said these were one shot stories based in the same AU I was writing, I put them together for this series. This chapter is the only one that really relates to the last one in any form (only because it has Reilly being a little social) but it has nothing to do with Gene. I just liked the idea of exploring the character and seeing something different about him. I've read the idea of Felicity being bisexual but I thought Gene would be a twist. I have no plans to get Gene together with Reilly much less have Gene really play a role in the story. Gene is too in denial to make a move and Reilly thinks he's barely worth noting and doesn't like what he sees. Could he pop up later? If I do anything with his family but again no plans. I do think I'll do other character one shot chapters but their always have something that relates to Reilly.
As for Reilly dating I don't think he'd mind it per se but no one has really caught his eyes. He strikes me as someone very involved in his work. Like May, Peter and in some cases his dad I think the idea that someone likes him surprises him a bit. Although I don't think he's as naive as May if that makes sense. As to your questions:
1.) Genes' parents are divorced. Flash raised Gene and Felicia took Felicity.
2.) His mom, Felicia, is bisexual and currently living with her girlfriend. Felicity doesn't like this because she thinks her parents should be together. It's implied that Felicia might have left Flash for this woman.
3.) Her name is Diana but not much is really said about her in the series. She does appear to live with Felicia and Felicity.
I already had some of these chapters done for awhile so while no real bonding goes on for the next two you will see Peter interacting with Reilly. It's just that Reilly finds the whole thing awkward and a little painful. He's trying to adjust.
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"You're still going to college?" Peter stared at his "nephew" who shrugged at the news like it wasn't a big deal. How the kid had talked to Foggy Nelson to explain his situation (without apparently revealing the family secrets) Peter didn't know. The school should have called him crazy instead of taking whatever word Foggy had put in for him. "You mean to tell me their not the least bit curious to discover that you're a teenager now?"
"Believe it or not it's not as uncommon as you'd think. The things Loki did alone have brought a class action suit against Thor through the Avengers. The law has made adjustments for individuals who were affected by supernatural forces. My current situation happened when Strange was closing that giant rift above New York and I'm not the only one who's been changed."
Mary Jane stifled her laugh at her husbands' pouty face knowing he was wondering why such laws weren't in place during his superhero days. "That's great new Reilly. Although I suspect the girls will be a little disappointed. They were looking forward to bringing you to school with them."
Reilly rolled his eyes. "Yeah that would have been great. Not only do I go backwards in my education I have to deal with the idiotic teens that think it's cool to act like morons all day."
"Not everyone is like that. Who knows, you might have liked it." She did laugh at his disgusted look.
"You did miss out on it before you skipped right to college. Many regard their teen years as the best years of their life." Peter added skimming through one of Reillys' textbooks with a puzzled expression.
"Like yours were?" The boy asked knowing that those years weren't easy on the other man.
"Hey I had my moments." When Reilly made to retrieve his book both adults knew he was planning on studying in his room. "You know you can study down here. With Benjy snoozing and the girls out it's nice and quiet."
"I still might get distracted, besides I have three weeks worth of work to make up." He zipped up his backpack then reach for the plates.
"Much as I appreciate you doing your own dishes I think I'll handle these. Peters' been making the girls feel bad for leaving theirs behind and I hate for them to start feeling like they don't live up to the standard you set." She snatched the items from Reillys' hands before he could protest.
"I always did the dishes all the time at my place, unless I had to be across town in a few seconds." He missed the amused looks on the Parkers faces as he offhandedly referred to his teleporting like it was the norm. He seemed to miss the ability. "If I'm a guest shouldn't I make the effort? You won't accept rent-"
"You're family young man, you don't owe us a thing." Mary Jane reminded. To her side Peter slouched in his chair feeling that he owed Reilly more than the boy could ever know. "While I wish the girls would follow your example more their teenagers. Responsibility is something we value but as a teen you should be having fun. Why don't you go out with May this week? I know she's been itching to show you around. You can meet her friends."
Reilly made a noncommittal sound though it was clear he had no interest in meeting any of Mays' friends. He didn't feel like he belonged in her life and being social with other teens sounded awkward. Seeing that (should he call her aunt?) Mary Jane was waiting for a real reply he shrugged. "Not sure what the point would be. Although the guy with the weak stomach was amusing."
"Who had a weak stomach? Was it Jimmy? Tell me it was Wes. I knew that boy wasn't right for May!" Not answering Peters' question Reilly swung the backpack over his shoulder and headed towards the steps. "You know I was in college too, I could help you with your assignments."
"Uh, that's really not necessary. Besides I'm studying for a different field-"
Peter stood up not noticing how thick he was laying it on with his chest puffed up. Mary Jane found it adorable even after all these years. "Nonsense. I may not have a law degree but I do work in law enforcement and have a better understanding of the process. Tell me about one of your harder projects."
There was a twitch of annoyance in Reillys' face before he smoothed it out. His uncle didn't notice it but Mary Jane did. "I have to do a debate paper arguing for a client the professor created in a fake scenario. The client is a tipsy but not legally drunk driver that ran through three lights, side swiped one car and crashed into a church. How would you argue for the client?"
The retired hero sputtered clearly at a loss for words. Mary Jane smirked knowing that Reilly had made his own scenario to get Peter to leave him alone. The boy was slicker than they gave him credit for. Which proved her own theory on the cleverness of redheads. As she passed by Reilly she couldn't help saying, "Sneaky little devil" before heading to the kitchen.
"Well now is that timing or what? We were just talking about you ladies." Moving around the jocks hassling their newest player Davida smiled at her best friend. "What's the lowdown girl? Because inquiring minds want to know. Who is that cutie April and you seem to be hanging out with? If there were problems with Wes I think I'd hear about it first. The poor guy is already wondering what's up with you being all secretive and evasive."
May frowned not sure what Davida was talking about. While she had been a little rushed lately it mostly had to do with her trying to keep April in line and desperately attempting to spend time with Reilly. He had agreed to meet them after school a few times (likely due to her mother asking him to walk them home) but refused to meet her friends. Not making the connection between Reilly and this mystery person Davida was suggesting she quirked an eyebrow.
"What cutie? I haven't been out with anyone, I've barely seen any of you, including Wes, for three weeks."
At the table Courtney shook her head at the newest script Jimmy had asked her to proofread before adding:"Really May? You don't recall walking with any cute guys recently?"
"What was so cute about that guy? Yeah he did seem kinda cool ...but he better know better than trying to steal you away from Wes." Moose commented stealing a fry from Jimmys' meal.
"He did seem a little..."Jimmy wobbled his hand as he tried to think of the right word,"...aloof."
"I don't know who you're-" A ringtone went off prompting half of the teens in their group to check their cell phones. With a sheepish grin May answered her phone ignoring Aprils' envious look. "Hey mom. You want us to do what? But he won't agree to that! Yeah, I'll try."
Her shoulders drooped in a defeated short of way. "You okay?"
"Yeah Court. I just have to try to do the impossible. I'll see you guys later." Trying not to feel too guilty as she saw her friends disappointed looks May grabbed April to pull along with her as they left the cafe.
"Hey what's the deal? I wasn't called into whatever busy work they got you doing." April complained. She hated the idea of missing out on a chance to be away from the folks. With so little experience in the world April wanted to have as much freedom as possible.
"You might not mind this one. Mom wants us to take Reilly along with us for the night." Spending time with Reilly was one of the few things the girls agreed on. Thus far all attempts to bond with him were awkward or put aside as the boy tried to get his new life together. "No powers though."
The other girl pouted obviously thinking it would be a blast for the three of them to cut loose on New York. "That would make dragging him out of the house a lot harder."
"Mom says he's been locked away for hours catching up on school. Mr. Nelson has been really good about letting him get adjusted before he returns to work but it's still a lot of paper work. So mom thinks it's time for him to have some fun."
"Yeah but your idea of fun will have him running back to the books. Face the facts May, Reilly and me have a lot in common in that area. We'd rather be busting heads than hanging out with your Scooby Doo Rejects."
"I don't think either of us really knows what he likes. I mean he's pretty devoted to school and apparently a neat freak." They shared a mystified glance. "Plus he's a guy so I don't think he'd like to go shopping."
A mischievous grin lit Aprils' face. "We could still do it for kicks."
Although May shook her head a smile split her face at the image that invoked. She could imagine his annoyance and his futile attempts to teleport away. It would be payback for all those sarcastic remarks he made.
Reilly almost didn't go with them but a somewhat subtle prompting from Mary Jane got him out of the house like the place was on fire. He muttered "now who's fighting dirty" to her as he left much to Mays' confusion. When she asked what her mom said Reilly simply told then that her parents wanted "alone time" to all of their discomfort. "Are we going to walk around or actually do something fun?"
Running a hand through her hair May tried to think of something before April really got blunt. "We could go to the mall, they have an arcade." Boys like video games right? April perked up but Reilly didn't seem like he cared one way or another. He played listlessly along with them at the arcade. Every once awhile emotions would pass his face but they usually passed before May could really read them. She got the impression that the loud obnoxious guys in back were as irritating to him as they were to her. And Reilly didn't seem too pleased with the idea of shelling out the amount of money they did to play the games.
April on the other hand loved it. The bright lights, the games and all the kids their age that filled the arcade. Although May was a little unsettled by how much her clone seemed to get into the Deadly Combat game. "Die! I'm going to rip out your heart and dance in your blood!"
"Uh huh." Reilly barely tried to use the controls anymore. He had made faces at the moves of the fighters and the level of violence when they started but he was past caring now.
"You want to go somewhere else?" Interest lit his eyes and May guessed she said the magic words.
"Yeah! I just beat you!" The darker girl did a little dance she had learned from her session on the Dance Dance Dance game. (Reilly had refused to play but he watched in amusement as the girls tried to go up against each other. May was a little more clumsy than she's like to admit.)
Leaving the arcade May thought about leading them over to the electronics store when some familiar faces popped up. Sandra, who's having trouble balancing her bags and Wes who was trying to help her. Spotting the three of them they stopped to greet each other.
"Hey May I was just getting off of work. I was hoping to see you around." Wes' eyes darted quickly to Reilly then back to his girlfriend. "You guys seem to be hanging out a lot."
"Oh this is the guy,"Sandra glanced at a uncomfortable Reilly,"Davida said he was cute. Don't sweat it Wes, I don't think Mays' looking elsewhere."
"What? Why would I be looking elsewhere?" This was the second time that day that someone made it should like she was leaving Wes.
"Yeah that would mean May finally got taste." Rolling her eyes April adjusted the color to her fingernails. Being a shapeshifter had it's advantages and she got bored with styles so easily.
"I think their confused about me." Reilly added not wanting to spell it out even though May was slow on the pick up.
"What's confusing?"
"And you have the nerve to say I don't listen? Davida and the rest of your friends think you got a crush on Ry...and apparently they think he's cute." She added a bracelet to her wrist liking the metallic glint.
"WHAT?" Mays' yell caused several shoppers to turn in her direction. Her face flushed in embarrassment and she wanted to find a hole to curl up in. Reilly sighed because he tried to get the point across without resulting in bluntness. "No! No, no, no! We are NOT interested in each other like that in ANY shape or form! This is,"she paused because what was Reillys' relation to her?
"Ry, another cousin of May's." April added smoothly. She glared for a second before a smirk slipped into place. "He's my brother."
Relief washed over Wes' face and Sandra started to introduce herself. May stared at April feeling an odd sense of betrayal. While she knew that they couldn't say that Reilly was her brother part of her had felt something that insisted she say it. By laying claim to the title of sister to him April was trying to make a point to her. May wasn't sure if she understand all of her clones' reasoning (not that she ever did) but she knew part of it was petty. To get back at May for all the supposed things she stole from April. That hurt, a lot. Not just because she wanted to be closer to Reilly, to be family, but she thought that things were getting better with April. Seemed she was missing out on a lot of things. By the time May got out of her own musings Sandra was saying goodbye and Wes was staring at her hopefully.
"Be right back May, we're getting coffee!" Grabbing Reillys' arm April yanked his towards the her destination. He rolled his eyes but went along anyway.
"He's Aprils' brother huh?" Wes asked guiding her to a bench. He had figured out the truth about her identity and they had talked about it. Other topics were brought up like how April was really related to her.
"It's complicated. More than it is with April. My dad-my family in general-failed to mention a lot of things. Dad had two "siblings" like April who were, er, came into being because of the same man. One of them was Reillys' dad." She watched as Wes started to put that together in his mind.
"Whoa. That's pretty trippy. Does that mean that he's sort of, I mean genetically, your half brother?" At her nod he hugged her. "So for the past few weeks when you said you had family issues this was it?"
"Yeah. I'm trying to get to know him. I mean I sorta have for awhile just not like this. Argh! Like I said it's complicated and I'm not even touching on everything. It's just...he knew who I was but kept all this from me. I can sort of understand why but I trusted him. I keep wondering what I did wrong. Why he didn't trust me. I'm trying to be cool about this because I want to be close to him! But when I think of-I just get so mad." Fiddling with her jacket she looked up at him."Is that wrong? Am I being selfish?"
"No. You're trying. You wouldn't be who you are if you didn't keep trying." They shared a kiss. "Go on, spent time with him."
"You sure?"
"We can plan something for later this week. If this is important to you then don't ever stop trying."
May was glad she finally found a nice guy. Hearing her clones' yell and seeing Reilly holding her back May had to sigh. If only the rest of her life was so simple.