Tia patted glitter along her cheekbones, and smoothed gloss onto her lips. She wanted desperately to escape her guilt and remorse, and figured that meeting people might help. Just because she was a mutant didn't mean she should be condemned to loneliness.
There came a knock at the door, and Tia was very surprised. Very few people came to her door, even fewer after 8pm.
Tia peered out the peep hole, pleasantly surprised to see Peter. She flung the apartment door open, excited by the highly unusual occurrence of a friend arriving.
"Hello!" she called, smiling ear to ear.
"Hi" Peter replied dubiously, his eyes drawn behind Tia to the messy treasure den that was her apartment. His eyes skimmed over the diamonds and crystal cut wine glasses, the fine china, the television sets. Tia turned around, seeing what Peter was seeing and feeling embarrassed.
"Wanna go out somewhere?" asked Tia, sliding out the door and shutting it quickly.
"Sure" Peter smiled. The spell that the diamonds had over him was broken when the door was closed. "What did you have in mind, Tia?"
Peter and Tia ambled down the road to the ice-creamery, each ordering double scoops. They licked at their ice-cream greedily as they walked down the road, enjoying the cold desert on the unusually hot evening. Tia felt there was something missing, so focused her mind on the object and blinked her eyes.
"Chocolate sauce?" Tia offered.
"Sure", Peter replied gleefully, tipping the bottle upside down and letting oodles of sauce pour onto his ice-cream. He handed the sauce pack to Tia, who promptly teleported it out of her hand and back to her kitchen when Peter looked away.
Peter and Tia walked in companionable and relaxed silence, until Peter suddenly became stiff, turning slowly towards Tia.
"Tia, where did that chocolate sauce come from?" he asked her, his voice suspicious and slow (for him, at least).
"Just, the shop. You know the shop?" Tia laughed nervously, fiddling with her hair.
"Where's the chocolate sauce bottle now?" Peter interrogated, desperate to know what had happened. He was increasingly certain Tia was a mutant, and was desperate to find out if his suspicions were correct. Peter had forgotten to ask Charles if Tia was indeed a mutant, and was still wondering.
"I just, I, I chucked it in a bin on the way past" Tia mumbled, watching Peter's face fall into a guarded and doubtful expression.
Tia was surprised, she thought they had an understanding. He knew she was a wanted criminal, and she knew he had some experience in that area himself. Obviously he had his ways, just as she had hers. She had even wondered if Peter was a mutant too- his silver hair was definitely outside the norm.
They walked in an awkward silence as Tia's brain ticked over.
"I have to ask you something" she said, her eyes wide and pleading. Peter nodded, wondering if she was about to ask his if he was a mutant, or if it was alright that she was a mutant, or something of the sort.
"Peter, how did you know where I live? And how did you know my name, I didn't tell you that."
Peter was taken aback. He had completely forgotten that it wasn't Tia who had invited him over, rather, he had invited himself.
"I got your address off a friends of mine. I told him about you, and he said he knew you too, and it all went from there", Peter explained. Tia frowned, she couldn't think of anyone she knew in the city apart from Peter.
"His name, my friend's name, is Charles. He said he visited you", Peter continued, his eyes searching Tia's face for any signs of recognition of the name.
Tia nodded her head, remembering the telepath who had visited her months before. She looked at Peter inquisitively and wondered how he knew Charles. Had Peter and Charles met for the same reason Tia and Charles had met?
"I promised him I'd make a visit to his house" Tia sighed, feeling a little guilty, "But I'm not sure I want to go yet. I don't think I'm ready".
Tia sat across from Peter in her cluttered apartment. His eyes flickered over her eccentric array of possessions and his feet twitched.
"Where does all this stuff come from?" Peter asked, gesturing with his eyes at the vast amount of junk around the apartment.
"I dunno, just, around the place" Tia replied, trying to stay ambiguous. She wasn't sure if Peter meant it literally, or if he knew she was a mutant and was asking about her mutation.
"Where does it go?"
"What do you mean?" Tia frowned. Peter mimed having a small object in his hand. He clenched his fist and mimed an explosion, staring in fake wonder at his empty palm. It could only really mean one thing- he knew she was a mutant with teleportation powers.
"It goes where I want it to go", Tia answered, her voice clipped. She had never before told anyone about her mutation.
"Like?" asked Peter, desperately trying to get Tia to elaborate. He was fascinated.
"The moon, my house, the desert, a little further down the street" suggested Tia, watching Peter's eyes as he processed her words.
"You can't do that shit!" Peter exclaimed, horrified and confused as he imagined the moon filling up with random objects.
"Why?" asked Tia, her eyes wide and innocent.
"Because, it's just…" Peter struggled for words, "It's wrong".
"What, and you're any better?" Tia smirked, watching Peter's eyes go wide. She was even more certain he was also a mutant.
"Look, at least I don't move stuff off the planet" Peter replied, his tone harsh and defensive.
"Hey, I wrote them a note" Tia replied flippantly, smirking as Peter floundered for words to explain how wrong it was.
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