Perfect Synergy
"From a little spark may burst a flame." - Dante Alighieri
Finally, the day had come. The day I had been waiting for for months. I'm not even going to try and drag out any suspense. You already know. It's been a long time coming.
It was my freaking birthday.
A birthday celebration with a bunch of scatterbrained mutants was the best birthday I could have asked for. I mean, I could've asked for a meaningful somber birthday with my family but I've had 16 of those so why ask for another! And pretty sure my parents wouldn't let me leave if I actually came back. But having a guy light your birthday cake candles with his own awesome red energy? Talk about the coolest thing since portable radio! It was all so amazing, it felt like a dream. I actually couldn't resist and ended up shoving Charles face first into the chocolate on chocolate cake that Raven had so expertly made. On top of that I swung from the chandelier in the foyer, Alex had bought some great party favors the night he went into town so we covered the entire first floor in confetti, and I had the perfect idea for a birthday present. It wasn't anything much. Just wanted to run it by Charles before I committed to it.
"Charles!" I exclaimed when I saw him. "Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles Charles!" I pestered even though he was giving me a very exasperated look since I was only a few feet away from him. He had been giving me that look for the past three hours, ever since I planted his face into my cake. Have I ever mentioned how much I love that I can block Charles out? So many surprises, so little time.
Charles arched an eyebrow at me. "Yes?"
I cleared my throat, Raven sure did know how to make a decadent cake. It was so rich I could still feel it covering the lining of my esophagus. "I want to get a tattoo."
Wow, his eyes sure did get big. Once he composed himself he asked. "Mind repeating that, Maxine?"
"Got frosting in your ears?" I joked, because he actually had. Charles didn't seem too entertained. "I want to get a tattoo on the inside of each of my wrists. Not an extravagant demand for a 17th birthday present, at least in my mind it isn't." I explained. "And if anyone asks any questions, I'm sure my telepathic mother sure can figure out some way to sweep any discrepancies under the rug!"
That got a slight chuckle out of Charles. "You've got it all figured out haven't you." Another chuckle. "I guess I can do this one thing for you, besides the whole shindig Raven and I threw for your special day." Ouch, guess they did do that for me. Now I feel like a real brat.
Putting on my most reassuring face, I fought to look him in the eye. "There's just this quote I've always liked and I kind of- I want it to be something everyone remembers me by. You know, when I'm gone..." I muttered, hoping that no one was listening in on our conversation.
At that, Charles sighed. "What's the quote." He asked.
"'From a little spark may burst a flame.' By Dante something or other. Saw that in something we read at Saffron. It stuck with me." I answered with my usual nonchalant attitude.
"Dante's Inferno. Great piece." Charles lamented, then sighed again. "I guess I can tag along to a more upstanding tattoo parlor, if it exists, long enough to convince the artist to ruin your skin with his work." He absentmindedly fixed the cuff of his sweater. "But do take someone else with you. I'm not a fan of-" He coughed. "Blood."
Sweet! I'm getting a tattoo! Two, actually.
Without really thinking I wrapped Charles in a hug. He let out a laugh and hugged me back. "Now now, go grab someone and get ready to leave." I unwrapped my arms from him and gave him a swift kiss to the cheek. Before I gave myself time to regret it I ran from the room in search of a friend to join me on my tattoo escapade. It was a tie between Raven and Alex, so whoever I found first was my choice. I checked the kitchen, just Sean passed out drunk in his underwear on the small breakfast table, I checked the den, just Erik smiling to himself while maneuvering three metal marbles in his hand. Weirdo. That's when I checked the gym.
Jackpot! Alex was benching, like, 1,000 lbs., easily off in the the corner. I decided to do something daring, first I had to gauge my distance. I can totally do it. Exhaling, I did a cartwheel, three front walkovers, and a single flip to clasp onto the weight Alex was busy lifting. It took a little effort but there I was, in a perfect handstand, pushing a weight down into my friends surprised face.
"Hello." I said sheepishly, noticing my black hair tickling his nose. Before I knew it Alex was pushing the barbell back up, my weight combined and all. Jesus Christ. This boy is too much for me. Why aren't I in love with him? Oh yeah. I love Hank. Guess I won the pick of the draw after all.
He grunted a bit when he let the weight back down and pushed me back up. "What's up?" He said through his teeth, giving the barbell and me another rep.
"I'm getting a tattoo in town, want to join?" I asked while silently admiring Alex's biceps and triceps flexing. If I wasn't careful I might just drool. Right onto him. Ew.
Alex lifted the weight back to its holder and slithered out from underneath it. I decided to be even more daring, I did a push up, still in my handstand of course, pushed off, and performed a double back tuck. I landed perfectly, legs together, hands up, the whole shebang. Thank you gymnastics. Not-so-subtly I looked at Alex and he applauded me quietly. I bowed extravagantly, blowing air kisses to an imaginary crowd.
"Thank you, thank you, you're all too much." I cooed; Alex laughed.
"Guess I'll go into town with you. Does Charles know about this?" He asked, wiping his brow with his shirt as he did.
I nodded. "Yeah, he's going to be there in case anything goes wrong or any questions are asked."
That got a chuckle out of him. "Good ol' Charles, preaching one thing and doing another."
"He means well, I'm sure." I said rather sarcastically. We laughed for a little bit but it was time to head out. Not really aware of my own actions, I walked over to Alex, wrapped an arm around his neck, and gave that blonde head of his a noogie. It didn't take long for him to try to wriggle out of my grasp, still, I remained strong. "No way you're getting out of this!" I threatened.
Of course, as soon as I said that, he wrench my arms apart, clasped the back of my head, and shoved my face into his lovely dewy armpit. I was practically gagging from the smell. Jesus shit, how long has he been pumping iron? Honestly I didn't know something could reek so much. This of course was all completely exaggerated because, well, let's face it. My face was smothered in nasty boy armpit hair and sweat at the time. My life seemed to flash before my eyes in that second. That's when something even more awful happened.
"I can fucking taste it!" I yelled and started punching Alex in the side until he let me go. And eventually he did. I hunched over as I hacked and wheezed. It was disgusting, I ran the back of my hand across my mouth and I saw a nice sheen layer of sweat. "It was in my mouth?!" I asked/yelled before jumping on Alex and beating him up for everything I was worth. It was a pretty fair wrestling match. It was like wrestling Collin, it really was. I think Alex sensed my distraction so he used that to gain the upper hand. Suddenly my face was in the carpet and I could feel Alex's hands between my shoulder blades and holding my wrist back causing my left shoulder relative pain.
"What is going on here?" Someone asked from the doorway. Alex let up on me a bit so I was able to look and see who was bothering us, it was Charles. I elbowed Alex with my free arm and shoved him off of me.
"He shoved his dirty pit in my face." I explained.
Charles arched an eyebrow at me. "Pit?" Seemingly confused by what I was saying. I reached over to Alex, who was now standing, grabbed his arm, and raised it up. With my other hand I pointed to the hairy jungle underneath Alex's arm. Charles made a noise of understanding. "Ah, his underarm..." He paused. "Why exactly did you put her face in there?" He asked with an evident shudder. Yeah, how do you think I felt?
Alex gave a snort. "Because I felt like it, and she deserved it." For that I punched him in the arm. He most certainly deserved that.
In response to that Charles shook his head. "You two are impossible. Now, get your coats, it's a bit chilly out there. We're leaving in ten minutes, yes?" He gave us one last look before putting his hands in his pockets and leaving the same way he came.
The second he was gone I tackled Alex again. This match only lasted a minute or so, just long enough to one up him. Once we were done he left to change out of his sweaty and gross clothes so I decided to go and grab my jacket. My ratty old denim jacket that I've had for years. It was Devin's first so its got some real major damage. Devin was the rebel in the family. When he was 15 he got into a brawl with a motorcycle gang at a honkey tonk bar, now he shall forever have part of his ear sliced off and a knife wound to the cheek. Some fat ass stabbed his cheek right through. And he's still the pretty one. Shocker.
I'm going to skip ahead to me actually getting the tattoos since nothing really substantial happened in the ten minutes it took to get into town. So, there I was, lying down with a tattoo needle going into my arm at a million needles per minute (I have absolutely no idea what the actual math is), admiring the quote across my wrists.
Thank you Dante.
Next to me was Alex, shirtless, laying on his stomach, getting a tattoo on his shoulder. Yeah, I convinced him to get a tattoo where I was going to get one. Right shoulder blade. A nice simple X. Why the X? We were mutants, well, he was, and it was fitting seeing as he had a mutated X gene. I laughed every now and then when he yelped, then I would reach over and grab his hand, causing me to get a scolding from the artist working on me. Shove it, old fat dude. Of course the attractive artist that had done my wrists was now staining Alex's skin. Seemed to have a thing for my muscled friend. If he was gay I didn't know and I didn't care.
All I knew was that my shoulder was killing me. The X was only three by three inches in size but those three square inches hurt like a bitch. I'm glad I brought Alex along, if I had tried to convince Raven to get a tattoo she'd, more than likely, flat out refuse and if she didn't she would've been crying the entire time. I love her but she isn't quite the buck it up and shut up type. After 15 minutes of pure agony the two artists were done and Alex and I had matching tats. I quickly put my shirt back on, had to take it off to get the tattoo, and waited for Alex to put his back on. Once I saw his blonde head emerge from the collar of his shirt I hopped down from the table and gave him a hug.
He winced. "Ow ow ow! Watch where you're squeezing!" He complained with a bit of a laugh. His arms wrapped around my middle after I moved my arms from the spot that was causing him pain. Teasingly he drummed his fingers on my tat, too bad it didn't hurt anymore for me.
Thank you healing factor.
"Why aren't you howling?" He asked, pulling away from me.
I gave him my most devious look. "Regenerative powers." I winked at his dumbfounded expression.
"So I'm going to be whining like a bitch for the next three weeks and you just get off scot-free?" He asked and I was terrified to answer because I was pretty sure that the truthful answer was going to cause me pain. I didn't think to mention my death in the next week, we were having too much fun. I didn't even answer Alex I just threw on my jacket and got the heck out of there. When I heard the rain coming down and Alex coming up behind me I did the only thing I could think of. I stop and faced the bull. Wasn't a very smart idea. Alex head butted my stomach and we both went down to the ground laughing like complete idiots getting rained on. That was one of the best nights of my life, including us trying to run back to the Palace when we were tackling each other and slipping all over the place. I didn't even care because for a second I felt like I was back home on a rainy day playing tackle football with the family. And the family included all of dad's war buddies, Monty, Gabe (when I was younger), Jim, Jacques. They were such a mashed up group, kind of like the wackos I live with now.
Speaking of which, my little group of wackos was going to get even wackier and I'd have to trade the best night of my life for the second worst. The night before we left for Cuba. The night I lost Hank.