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“You don’t have to come up with me,” Dean pointed out.
“I don’t have to, but I know you’d feel more comfortable if I did.”
Jared slipped his hands in his pockets and looked around the lobby of the Ven-Tech building (under construction). He’d never been inside. No reason to, since Ven-Tech had their own security and hadn’t been very active in the super-science racket during the time Jared had a potentially viable career in bio-engineering. Now, despite the scaffolding and the large hole in the wall where Dean’s grandfather’s head had been, the building managed to seem quite impressive.
Criminy, Dean’s life made Jared’s feel normal.
“Dean!” Sergeant Hatred bellowed from behind the desk. “Oh, and I see you’ve got your little friend with you!”
Dean raised his brows and looked to Jared. They had visited Hatred together in the hospital last semester in the midst of the string of archings on the Venture penthouse. Hatred had been pretty groggy at the time, and kept telling Dean how much he supported him and how adorable they were. Jared was glad to have made an impression at all, though he had no idea how. He and Dean had just dropped by on their way to class, in their school clothes, and Hatred had fallen asleep twice during the visit.
“That’s me!” Jared said cheerfully.
“Good to see you two still together!” Hatred walked around the desk and came out to shake Jared’s hand.
“Huh? Well, we’re only going to be in for a minute,” Dean said.
“You’re really in and out these days, huh?” Hatred crossed his arms. “I hardly see you around the ol’ compound anymore.”
“Um, Uncle Hatred? It’s not a compound.”
“You know what I mean.” Hatred put his hand on Dean’s shoulder. “We just miss ya.”
“I’m here most of the time,” Dean protested, looking guilty.
Jared hoped he wasn’t having second thoughts.
“Aw, don’t worry about it. I know you college boys have all kinds of stuff goin’ on.” Hatred patted Dean’s back.
“He seems friendly,” Jared said as they entered the elevator.
“Yep.”
“Are you nervous?”
Dean gave Jared a look something akin to “yes, I obviously am” and “stop treating me like a child.” Under the circumstances, if Jared were in Dean’s place, he would’ve been equally as anxious. While Dean hadn’t officially left home, he’d been spending as much time as he could anywhere else. And Jared knew that he was only catching sleep intermittently at other locations. If Jared were honest with himself, he worried for Dean every moment he spent in this building.
The doors opened on the penthouse, an enormous space. Open, bright, blue. It projected something between opulence and high futurism. Jared must’ve been staring for some time, as Dean bumped against his shoulder.
Jared shook his head. “Damn, this place is swank.”
Dean half-smiled. “It was my Uncle JJ’s. C’mon. Maybe I can get my stuff before Dad gets back. Brock’ll be easier to talk to.”
Jared wasn’t certain that was true, even if Dean seemed to treat the Big Guy as the softy. Jared had met the man once, and while he was clearly competent at his work, Jared didn’t know if he’d be at all amenable to the idea of Dean spending the night somewhere else.
They scaled the stairs and headed for Dean’s room. It was bigger than Jared had imagined. He gravitated toward the bookshelf and started looking at titles.
“I’ll just get clothes for a few nights,” Dean said, tossing a duffle bag onto the bed.
“You know, if no one is here,” Jared pointed out, running his fingers over weathered spines, “We could pack you up properly.”
“I don’t know…”
Before Jared could question the hesitation in Dean’s voice, a blur of fluffy blond hair and white jacket bounded in and hopped on Dean’s bed.
“Christ, Hank!” Dean whipped a shirt at his brother.
“I am divine, aren’t I?” Hank pulled his feet together in front of him, heel to heel, and leaned forward. “Wait, do I know you?”
Jared realized after a moment that Hank was talking to him. “I’m Jared. I was the ninja waiter you dine and ditched on.”
“Oh.” Hank frowned and made a face before turning back to Dean. “I’ve been trying to run into you forever.”
Dean perked up.
“Do you know how to fix the hover-car? It’s been busted forever, and I can’t get another job without it.”
Dean’s shoulders slumped. “Why don’t you ask Dad? Why would I know how to fix it?”
“Because you’re a nerd, and it’s Venture technology, and you’ve fixed Helper plenty of times.”
Dean rolled his eyes. “A car that creates its own magnetic field to self-propel is a bit different from a nuts and bolts robot. Ask Dad. He’d do it, if it meant you were getting a job.” He paused. “Are you getting a job, or are you just looking for a way to take Sirena out?”
Hank held up his hands. “Busted. But both apply, doncha think?”
“I don’t know that Dad would see it that way.” Dean turned to his dresser and started to pull out clothing.
“C’mon! How am I supposed to impress her when my wings are clipped! Did Batman go out without his Batmobile?”
“Sometimes he went out in his Batcycle or Batcopter,” Jared offered.
Dean turned around to give him a stern look. Unintelligible, until Jared spotted the scheming on Hank’s face.
“Please don’t try to get a motorcycle, Hank,” Dean said. “There aren’t any more clones of us to spare. Look, if you can get a copy of Uncle JJ’s plans for that thing, I’ll take a look at it.”
Hank threw his fists above his head in triumph. “Score!”
Dean sighed as he folded his clothes.
“Wait, are you going somewhere?”
“I’m going to campus for a few days.”
“We’re setting up for an Orphan’s Christmas,” Jared explained. “The RAs set up a sleepover in the student center with decorations and games for dorm kids who can’t get home over the break.”
“So why is Dean there? He’s not an orphan.” Hank shrugged. “I mean, we don’t have a mom, but we’ve got plenty of uncles.”
Dean furrowed his brow and zipped up his duffle. “Is Brock around? I don’t want him rampaging on campus trying to find me.”
“He’s off with his girlfriend that he swears he doesn’t have.” Hank rolled his eyes.
“I thought she had left town already.”
“Wait, what?”
“I’m pretty sure I overheard them talking about that. Her job is taking her overseas, or, one of them anyway.” Dean looked to Jared and clarified, “Warriana.”
“Oh!” Jared said. “I thought she was—Well, I guess that’s reductive. She was dating The Archess for a while.”
“Bisexuality exists, Jared,” Dean teased.
Jared tossed a pillow at him. Dean caught it and tossed it to Hank.
“Okay, let’s go,” Dean said. “Hank, can you talk to Brock when he gets home? I’ll leave a message for him.”
“You’re just gonna leave?” Hank pouted.
“I guess.”
“What about Dad?”
“I-Is he here?”
“I mean, he’s in the lab. He’ll be mad if you disappear and don’t say anything.”
“Crap.” Dean clutched the top of his duffle. “Gimme a minute, Jared?”
“Are you sure?” Jared walked to his side and put a hand on his shoulder.
“Yeah. I got it.”
Dean touched Jared’s hand and squeezed it before heading out of the room. Jared sat on the edge of Dean’s desk and stared at the empty doorway.
“So. Jared.”
Jared lifted his head. “Hm?”
Hank’s brow furrowed as he leaned his cheek on his hand and dissected Jared with his eyes. “So you’re like… friends with my brother.”
“I am.”
“And you dated Sirena.”
Oh, that’s what that was about. “I did. Well, if you ask her, it was barely dating.”
“She doesn’t talk about it much,” Hank admitted. “Makes a man wonder why.”
“Not much to wonder about.” Jared sighed. “You know I’m older than her, right?”
“I have eyes.”
“Oof. True. Anyway, I met her one night when she was trying to slip her guards, and we hit it off. I thought she was older than she was. Mostly because she had a fake ID for clubs that claimed she was 21.” Jared paused. “She wasn’t.”
“So you dumped her because your love wasn’t leeeegal,” Hank said, waggling his brows.
“More like, her father had his goons pluck me off the street, keep me in a room for three days, and make me violently aware that Sirena was underage.”
Hank’s playful demeanor faded. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“But that’s not her fault.”
“No, it isn’t, but when I told her that we had to stay away from each other, she didn’t take it well.” Jared rolled his shoulders, remembering the cane Wide Wale had kept in that room, just waiting for moments when he returned to remind Jared why a man should be more careful about who he dates. “We fought about it quite a bit. Sirena wants someone who will defy her father, but not smother her with protection. She hates it when people try to do things ‘for her own good,’ or try to make decisions for her.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen her dig a tracker out of her arm with a knife.”
“Maybe you can imagine how scary it might be, if your parent put things inside you against your will? And were trying to control you?”
Hank nodded. “That would probably suck.”
“It would. You might not feel like you could talk to people who you would normally share things with,” Jared suggested.
“Huh. Yeah, maybe.”
Jared crossed his arms and looked the boy over. It was hard sometimes to mentally grasp that Hank was roughly the same age as Dean. Maybe the process of being cloned so many times, or having their memories wiped, had changed how Hank and Dean had matured. Dean had told Jared that in the weeks since finals, he’d started, slowly, to get back memories that had been taken from him. Who knew how those memories were affecting him.
“Would you like to come with us?” Jared asked. “We could always use an extra set of hands to set things up. You don’t have to be a student, and most of the people there will be around your and Dean’s age.”
“Nah, I’m goin’ out with Sirena tonight. I still have some cash saved.” Hank hopped up. “Thanks for telling me what happened, anyway. Want a soda?”
“No thanks.”
There was an ease about Hank’s shoulders that told Jared that Hank wasn’t at all afraid. That he didn’t have trouble sleeping under the same roof as his father. From Dean’s descriptions, Hank was getting it in a different way, though. That was something Jared couldn’t really protect him from.
As few moments later, Dean reappeared. “Okay. Let’s go.”
“Did he kick up a fuss?” Jared asked.
“Not really. He was busy, so I just told him what we were doing, and he waved his hand around and told me to stop bothering him.” Dean’s voice had reached a gravelly tenor. “I can’t find my jacket.”
“Want me to help you look?”
“No, Hank probably took it.” Dean grabbed his bag and hurried out of the room.
“See ya, ‘around, Deano!” Hank called from the kitchen.
Dean paused for a minute, then popped his head in. “Hey, you wanna come?”
“Jared already asked. Have a blast setting up parties for orphans.”
“’Kay!” Dean darted back and grabbed Jared’s arm. “Let’s go before something insane happens.”
* * *
When the two of them arrived (after tossing Dean’s things in Jared’s room), the student center was full of life. There was so much to do that Jared lost track of Dean. Every once and a while, he’d catch a glimpse of a red head and crimson hoodie at different booths, doing whatever people asked him to do. Jared had originally given him to Kara, another RA, with the intent of reclaiming him quickly to help set up the Christmas tree.
But Dean seemed to be doing fine. He’d told Jared that thanks to his secluded life on a compound and bed-ducation, he had the social skills of a betta fish. Jared had never found Dean to be anti-social. Cynical sometimes, anxious often. Always polite.
Jared headed over to the intake area, where volunteers would be taking names (proof to the powers that be that Student Life was putting their funding to good use), and giving out raffle tickets. The prizes would be announced throughout the night, and it wasn’t a bad plan. Undergraduates were notorious for signing up for almost anything free. There was a pack of Blue Books, some specialty pens and highlighters, and gift cards for local restaurants and services. Nothing big, and most of it had come through donations, as had a lot of the food for tomorrow night.
Jared had just finished checking that all the raffle supplies were in order when there was a shout across the room.
“Timber!” someone yelled.
He turned to see the towering artificial pine tilting precariously… just before hurtling toward the ground, little glass balls preceding it with explosions as they hit the weathered stone floor.
Jared bolted across the distance, slipping in between the members of the crowd. He was too far, the tree was too heavy. Maybe he could pull people out of the way with his webbing, one at a time—
But the tree stopped falling. It just stopped. It hovered in the air at an odd angle, as though, having started to fall, it gave up halfway.
Or someone was holding it.
Jared spotted Dean near the base of the tree, bowing under what had to be a thousand pounds of weight. His face was screwed up, and his teeth clenched. Jared could read the strain all over him. But before he could reach Dean, the tree started to lift again and Dean dropped to the floor. Jared reached his side and stared up at the rising tree.
“How?” Jared muttered.
Dean shook his head and shuddered. The tree, the old standard dragged out by the university every year, was back in its place.
“What happened? How did it fall?” Dean asked.
That wasn’t the most pressing question for Jared, but he had no time to dwell on it.
“Probably a problem with the base,” a deep, female voice said. “Ya’ll should probably check that out.”
“Oh, hey, Daphne,” Dean said.
Jared looked between the two of them. Daphne wasn’t dressed for grunt-work, so he knew they’d been lucky she had been around. She stood with a hand on her hip, dressed warmly in thick tights and a large draping sweater, and of course, the ankh that always hung from her neck. She adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses and looked down at Dean.
“You okay, kid?” she asked.
“Fine.” Dean wobbled to his feet, holding onto Jared. Then, yawned. “Um, tired.”
“I didn’t know you knew her,” Jared said. He kept a firm hand on Dean’s back. He could tell from the people milling around that they assumed Dean had just nearly gotten squashed by the tree. They were staring at Daphne, not him.
“We met at Halloween.” Dean was blinking slowly and then leaned into Jared heavily. “On the ghost tour.”
“Let’s go hit one of the sofas,” Daphne suggested.
Jared knew she wasn’t as blasé about people seeing her power as all that, but it wasn’t a secret that she’d transferred from a conservatory for occult studies. Truthfully, her reserved nature meant she wouldn’t have engaged with the people who she’d just saved no matter the circumstances, so they might as well take a moment away from the crowd to let Dean recoup.
Stuyvesant was a weird place. If the students know that yet, they soon would. Jared waved to Kara and gestured to the hallway before following Daphne.
Dean was out cold by the time they sat down in the study area. Jared pulled him close and rubbed his back, frowning in concern.
“Are you really surprised that he’s wiped out? I bet holding up a ginormous Xmas tree is freakin’ exhausting,” Daphne said. She crossed her legs and then her arms, looking over the two of them. “Adopted another one, huh, Jared?”
“I haven’t adopted him,” Jared objected. “What are you doing here, anyway?”
“Kara asked me to come set up some special lights for them.” Daphne shrugged. “I was late. Lucky your boy was right there.”
“I can’t believe he did that. Dean doesn’t want anything to do with this,” Jared muttered.
“You remember how hard it is to sit back when you know you can save people.” Daphne tilted her head back. “He looks so tiny.”
“He’s more muscular under the sweater.”
“Hiding it, hm?” Daphne sighed. “Why don’t I go grab us some smoothies? If his powers tire him out, I bet he’ll wake up starved. I’ll add a couple of protein and energy boosters.”
“You’re so practical.”
“For a witch, yeah.” Daphne smiled a little then left for the food court.
Jared glanced down at Dean, fallen asleep on him for the second time in just a few weeks. Although Dean had described his abilities, Jared had never seen them. Even that time they’d gone on patrol together, Dean had only flipped the mugger who had come at him over his head. He hadn’t splattered the guy into a wall.
Holding up that tree, as strenuous as it was, suggested that Dean could have.
Taking one of Dean’s hands into his own, Jared brushed his fingertips into the deep bruises forming along his palm. He was going to need something to protect his body, if he kept this up. Dean’s other hand was bleeding, and Jared pulled a clean handkerchief out of his back pocket to bind up the gash. Something was sticking out of it, though, a small piece of glass. It looked like a bit of a lightbulb. Carefully, slowly, Jared pulled the glass from Dean’s palm. He glanced up at Dean, who remained asleep, and then back to the wound.
The bleeding had stopped. Would it close on its own? Jared watched for a moment before deciding that even with six eyes, he probably couldn’t see microscopic robots repairing a cut and tied his handkerchief tightly around it.
Daphne returned with the smoothies and set Dean’s aside. Together, they caught up quietly regarding their studies and a bit of their semi-secret nightly activities. About fifteen minutes had passed when Dean woke with a groan and rubbed his eyes.
“Hey, hero,” Daphne said. She reached over Jared to ruffle Dean’s hair.
“Hey,” Dean objected. He blinked at her a few times, then looked at Jared.
“No one saw. Or I don’t think so. I hope you’re okay. You practically passed out back there.” Jared smoothed Dean’s hair back down.
“God, I wasn’t even thinking. Dumb.” Dean accepted the smoothie when Daphne handed it to him and held it for a moment before sucking on it hard enough that he should have gotten brain freeze.
“Told ya,” she said.
“How did you know that?” Jared demanded.
“Basic biology,” Daphne said. “Besides, I’m a runner, and I know how it feels after I’ve overexerted myself for the day.”
“Did you tell her?” Dean’s brows tented.
“I haven’t explained anything,” Jared said. He hoped that Dean would know that, but some level of trust issues was to be expected.
“I gathered from watching you catch a humongous commercial Christmas tree,” Daphne said. “But I’m glad feeling better, and no one was hurt.”
“I’m glad you two were there, honestly,” Jared said. “I could’ve gotten a few people out of the way, but that tree is far too heavy for my webbing.”
“Yeah, and I needed a minute to set up a levitation spell. I’m not exactly Hermione Granger over here,” Daphne said. “Apart from the hair.” She gestured to her thick, black curls. “The university should have us on call for all its events. It could be a new kind of work-study program.”
Dean set his empty smoothie aside and blinked again, as though he were still tired, then looked at his hand and unbound the handkerchief. It had bled a bit more, but the wound now looked more like a nearly healed papercut.
He rubbed his thumb over the wound and got that alarmed, “fearful of my weird body,” expression again. Jared took his hand, and Dean looked into Jared’s eyes. He seemed to calm, then sighed softly.
“I don’t know if I could’ve held that tree for long,” he admitted. “I don’t… know much about this. Thanks for taking the heat.”
“I’m used to people staring,” Daphne said. “Anyone from the Conservatory is, really.”
“And without a mask, even,” Jared joked.
Daphne folded her hands. “Let’s be real, kids, all the authorities think us black girls look alike anyway.”
Jared stifled a laugh as Dean’s eyes widened.
“I’ll take a bulletproof vest over a mask,” she added.
“I could find you one.” Dean hesitated. “Well, um, borrow one.”
Daphne laughed. “You do that. I’ll call us even.”
* * *
The rest of the arrangements were less eventful. Jared and the other RAs had to talk with an official from the administration about the near accident, and Daphne had taken the lead on the explanations and lifted Tosh Tompkins into the air for an example. They had left quickly. Dean’s energy was still lagging, but Jared was willing to bet that if he’d taken an hour or so to rest afterward, he would’ve bounced back just fine.
The real excitement would happen tomorrow. They should have a good turn-out. Jared knew that even commuter students living within the city limits or in Jersey might show up just for the sake of getting to enjoy the festivities with their fellow students. It was a small community, but when the students weren’t busy with their lives and jobs, a decent amount would participate.
Dean was lying flat on his back staring up at the twinkling lights floating impossibly above the whole of the festival area. To the side were the booths, and Dean was resting on a bed of pillows in the open space where, if they chose, students could bring extra blankets and spend the night.
Jared kicked off his shoes and got down onto the pillows with him. It was dark out now, and above Daphne’s fairy lights was the glass dome of the building, and the cloudy sky, through which only a few stars shone through.
“You could see a lot more stars at the compound,” Dean said, as though picking up on Jared’s thoughts.
“New York is rich in culture, but richer in pollution,” Jared said.
“I’ve never spent the night away from my brother before,” Dean said. “I mean, not on purpose. Sometimes, we’d be kidnapped, and one of us got rescued before the other, or our kidnapper took me away from my family for… reasons.” His cheeks grew a little pink. “But nothing like this. Even after we finally got our own rooms, we were always at least in the same house.”
Dean paused. “It wasn’t easy to sleep that first night not sharing a room with him, either, actually. And that was my idea, too.”
“Big step. I think you’ll surprise yourself, though. You can do this,” Jared said. He was starting to worry again. He knew for a fact that Dean had the strength to do this, but he’d see kids in more imminent danger walk right back into the hands of their family.
Missing his twin was no small hurdle.
“I can do it. It just feels wrong.”
“He could come visit you,” Jared suggested.
Dean pressed his lips together and let out a tense breath. “He’ll come visit,” he repeated, as if to reassure himself. “I can’t just stay at home, though. If something like this happened at home, how would I hide it?”
“Granted, my aunts were more attentive to my comings and goings, but I do think this would be a hard secret to protect in that particular building.”
“At least, out here, there are other freaks like me hanging around.” He paused. “Not that Daphne is a freak. She seems nice. And she studies magic, right? So it’s more of a skill.”
“I think her majors are chemistry and museum studies.”
Dean laughed. “Of course.”
“Gotta have a day job.”
As if by instinct, Dean’s hand gravitated toward Jared’s. They stayed there together, amid the artificial winter wonderland, gazing into the muddy night sky with the sparkling of magical lights above them. The building was cold. They wouldn’t have heat until tomorrow, since the school was saving money during the break. Regardless, Jared felt his heart beating strongly, warming his skin as he squeezed Dean’s hand.
Jared might not know for sure that Dean would really go through with leaving home until it actually happened, but Dean was braver than he gave himself credit for. He was more adaptable than he gave himself credit for. And Jared would put his faith in his new charge. He was proud of him, too, jumping in the way he had to protect others. Maybe Dean was more than a roommate to Jared.
Might as well admit it.