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Alex looked out the front window of the X-Mansion (named by the wonderfully clever Sean, or so he liked to tell everyone) and paced up and down the length of it translucent structure.
Old habits die hard, he thought as he continued to pace and brought his thumb up to his mouth to chew and pick at the nail. Not many had truly asked him about his time in the box, though he supposed the Professor didn’t exactly count seeming as he seemed to know everything about everyone. Still those days in the dark with only himself, his memories, and four walls around him tended to creep into his mind around this time of the year.
Especially since I’m still alone.
Though he had tried his hardest, it seemed every time he closed his eyes, he could see Darwin in front of him, his arm outstretched and a message in his eyes that Alex would never truly be able to understand.
Even though he still hoped to.
At the time, it was a silly and an almost forbidden thought for Alex. His history of violence and heartbreak had led him to prison, a place that was almost a comfort to him, where he could hide away from his abilities, and his memories of his sister. It was prison that brought him grief but also comfort and salvation. A chance to harness and control his powers in a way he never thought possible. A chance to have friends the same as him and a mentor that had all the answers to his fears, even the ones he didn’t know about. The moment Alex stepped out of that prison was the single greatest moment his life changed forever.
Or so he thought.
Alex was startled out of his thoughts by the very familiar banging and a sudden screech upstairs. He rolled his eyes and turned to leave the front entryway where he’d been staring for the past fifteen minutes at the front gravel driveway. Soon that driveway would be full of students, riding their bikes or driving their cars up and down, the front door constantly open to let in more mutants. Or students, as the Professor liked to say.
It was an exciting thought to have more people his own age going down the halls yet still a terrifying one for Alex. All this time and he still wasn’t used to so many people. Even when he was young and relatively a normal kid that liked doing the normal stuff, large crowds always made him a bit uneasy. At the time he thought he was just being shy but these days he wondered often if it was a warning about what his future held.
That feeling of rage and panic coursed through his veins like molten lava that first time. The second time was just panic and fear, a defensive mechanism from what he’d read in the dozens of books the Professor gave him. Even now he still felt that panic, that ultimate rush that gave him an increasingly amount of energy and power. In a way, it had always felt trilling and almost pleasurable. It was that pain and pleasure of stepping into steaming hot water after the hardest workout of your life…only hundred times manifold.
That’s what killed Darwin.
The sudden thought made him stop and reach a hand up to grasp tightly to part of the mahogany doorway. A sudden lump found its way into his thought and his breath grew shallow.
“Is that what he felt?” he said out loud.
“Who?” a voice said behind him causing Alex to jump and turn around. It was Hank in his silky blue furred appearance. Curiosity looks weird on his face, he thought, like a cat. As if Hank might have heard him, his expression went from weird to annoyed. Alex realized suddenly that he’d just been staring at him for the past minute, probably with his thought clearly written on his face.
“Sorry”, he said, “uhhhh, it doesn’t matter. Just thinking out loud I guess.”
“You? Thinking?” Hank snarked as he walked past, giving Alex a friendly bump on the shoulder.
These days in the mansion, the relationship involving Alex and Hank centered on jokes, jabs, and the occasional smile. It was an odd friendship that was likely to cause sparks every now and then. Till this day the only person Alex had ever instantly gotten along with was Armando. Alex cringed a little and turned to follow Hank up the stairs.
“What’s going on today?” he asked, running up a few steps behind Hank.
“Well I’m going up to see what Sean broke up there a minute ago and then I need to visit the Professor and try to figure out the schedule of classes next month.” Hank listed off. “Sheesh, hardly seems like a month away doesn’t it?”
“Yeah…” Hank trailed off, a complicated look on his face before he continued, “I mean, I’m excited to finally have the mansion ready and set but I don’t think-“ he paused suddenly.
“What?” Alex prompted. “Well…it’s just I think with the injury and Erik going haywire, Charles isn’t really facing his emotions with it all. I mean for fucks sake, his own sister left to pursue her dreams while he was bleeding out a bullet wound! She couldn’t have waited a couple hours?”
Alex and Hank both stopped suddenly on the stairs. Alex from the shock that Hank had just used a swear word and Hank from the sudden lack of breath from climbing the stairs and having a semi meltdown.
“Ooooook,” Alex said, not sure what to say.
“Sorry,” Hank said sheepishly turning around to face Alex on the top step.
“I guess I’m more nervous and frustrated then I thought.”
“Maybe you should be taking your own advice then?” Alex said with a small smile up at Hank.
Hank let out a breath and a smile and opened his mouth to reply when a knocking came from the door.
“Well go on then,” Hank said before turning around and disappearing down the upstairs hallway. Alex rolled his eyes and grumbled a bit to himself before turning and running down the stairs. The knocking started again with an odd clang that caused Alex to pause before yelling out, “coming!” Hand grasping the brass doorknob, he yanked the door open and looked up at the visitor. He then proceeded to fall down straight on his ass.
For a moment, no sound filled the room like time had frozen. His eyes stared up and wide at the person filling the doorway before he opened his mouth attempting to utter some type of sound. “YOU'RE DEAD”, he accidentally shouted and then cringed at his word choice and the sudden ringing in his ears. A chuckle escaped the visitor before he bent down and outstretched his arm to rub fondly at the top of Alex’s head.
“Not exactly…though for a while I thought so,” he said.
“Armando…” Alex whispered, still in shock but suddenly warm all over from where Armando was touching him. Suddenly speech and movement wasn’t an issue and he launched himself up to grab Armando and wrap him tightly in his arms.
They stayed that way for a while. Both kneeling pressed closely to one another. Alex felt warmth in his body, as hot as if he was using his powers. Their arms both eventually grew tired squeezing each other so hard and they parted, laughing together.
“Sooo…how?” Alex said.
“To be honest, I’m not exactly sure. It like…like heat all over my body and at first I tried resisting and changing my self to adapt. When suddenly…I knew.”
“Knew what?” Alex asked.
“How to live, how to adapt to being more than a person. It was amazing and terrifying. All of a sudden I was everywhere, just kind of drifting and moving. It was freeing and scary at the same time.” Alex looked at Armando, his eyes looking at every detail of his face, trying to remember every part of it in case this a dream. He oddly felt like he knew exactly what Armando was talking about.
“I was lost for a while,” Armando continued, “when suddenly I knew I to get back-“.
He cut off.
“Get back?” Alex asked.
Armando looked at Alex and grinned one-sidedly.
“Yeah…to you.”
There was really no other prompting on either of there parts before they found each other in the middle again. A steaming heat that burned them both and put smiles on both of their faces.