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Gordon held his hands out, palms flat and facing the table in front of him. He concentrated as hard as he could, willing something to happen, but after several long moments, he got nothing.
"I can't do it!" He threw his arms up in exasperation and turned to his dad.
His dad was standing a little ways away, arms crossed as he watched him try and use his powers. But when he saw that Gordon was struggling, he made his way over to him with a smile.
"That's because you're thinking too much. You need to relax." His dad moved to stand behind Gordon and he placed his hands on Gordon's shoulders. "You're too tense."
Gordon tried to do as his dad said and relax. He dropped the tension from his shoulders, which was easy to do with his dad's presence. His hands were risen and facing the table again, and he concentrated once more.
He willed to feel the coldness on his fingertips as he used his power on the bowl in front of him.
However, just like before, nothing happened.
Gordon groaned in frustration and he stepped out of his dad's grip to kick the leg of the table out of anger.
The table rocked and the water in the bowl sloshed, indicating that he indeed hadn't frozen it.
"Gordon, hey, look at me." His dad reappeared behind him and grasped his shoulders again to turn him around.
Gordon spun around to face him.
"Why is it that when I don't want to use them, my powers get out of control, but when I do try to use them I can't!"
"You're still thinking about it too much." His dad guided him back over to where he had been standing and faced him towards the table again. He crouched down to Gordon's level and put his hands over Gordon's. "Your powers will come naturally to you if you let them. Don't force it."
He positioned Gordon's hands back to where they were before. He didn't let go, and Gordon felt himself relax again in his grip, his anger gone as quickly as it had appeared.
"You need to be calm to gain complete control over your powers," he said into Gordon's ear as the two of them stared at the bowl of water on the table. "So just breathe."
Gordon did as instructed and took a deep breath. He closed his eyes as he did so, and when he opened them, he suddenly felt a lot calmer. He watched the water in front of him as it rippled slightly in the wind, and he imagined it freezing over into a block of ice.
He let out another deep breath, and suddenly he could see the ripples stop as the top of the water froze over.
Gordon grinned and he heard his dad cheer next to him as the water turned to ice.
Although, the water wasn't the only thing he'd frozen over. Quickly, ice began to spread down the side of the bowl and over the table. It reached the ground and grew across the grass, towards the two of them.
Gordon started to panic and tried to stop it, but he couldn't. It just kept spreading.
He stumbled back as the ice started to get close to him and he fell onto the floor.
"Gordon."
Gordon's gazed whipped toward his dad. His dad was looking at him calmly, seeming to not even care about the ice almost touching his feet as he hadn't moved.
"Remember, just breathe."
Gordon nodded shakily and then squeezed his eyes shut. He took several breaths that were probably quicker than they should have been, but eventually they started to slow down. His dad's words went around his head, about how he needed to relax and stay calm if he wanted to control his powers.
A minute passed before he dared to open his eyes. He hadn't felt the cold reach him, but he didn't want to risk it.
But when he did eventually open his eyes again, it was to find that the ice had only reached as far as the tip of his dad's shoe before it stopped.
"Well done!" His dad was suddenly pulling him into a bone crushing hug. "I'm so proud of you."
"Why?" Gordon asked, confused, and didn't return the hug. "I lost control again."
"But you managed to stop it all on your own." His dad moved back, but still kept his hands on Gordon's arms. "That's huge progress."
"I guess so," Gordon shrugged. It was the quickest he'd managed to get a hold on his powers so far, but he still didn't think it was worth celebrating. It was taking him so long to learn how to use his powers. He felt like a disappointment.
"I wish I wasn't the only one learning," Gordon muttered as poked at the ground that he was still sitting on. It would be so much easier if he had his brothers at his side. At least then he wouldn't be the only one making mistakes.
His dad frowned. "I thought you were excited that you were the first of your brothers to get your powers?"
"I was." And that was true. Although the first few days were scary, they were filled with excitement with what was to come. But now he was realising how hard this really was. "But now I just I feel...different. Weird."
Gordon then felt his dad pull him off the ground and onto his feet.
"Listen to me." Gordon's gaze lifted from the floor to his dad's face. "You're not weird, you're special. Not everyone is as lucky as you to have superpowers. I know that it's hard right now, but it will get easier."
He started to brush the dirt off Gordon's clothes as he continued. "It's always difficult to start with. I should know, I was a disaster when I got my powers."
Gordon perked up at that.
"Really?"
His dad chuckled. "Yeah. I had to resort to using plastic cutlery because I kept ruining the spoons when I ate my cereal."
Gordon laughed as he pictured it, feeling slightly better. His dad always looked so cool when he used his powers, so it was surprising to know that there was a time when he lost control of them like Gordon.
"How about we call it a day and go and have something to eat, yeah?" His dad suggested with a smile. Gordon was quick to nod in agreement, and then the two of them headed back into the house.
There was a pencil in his hand and a piece of paper in front of him, but Gordon couldn't concentrate.
He didn't know what it was that had his mind so occupied, it was just one of those days. He was meant to be getting on with his work, but all he could manage was a few small doodles in the corner of the paper.
It wasn't long until he heard a sigh from nearby and then his teacher appeared in front of him.
"Why haven't you done your work yet, Gordon?" She asked kindly, although Gordon could tell she was a little annoyed as this was far from the first time she'd asked him that today.
Gordon just shrugged in return and didn't look up from where he was drawing a little swirl.
"How about I help you get started."
His teacher crouched down next to his desk and started to help him with the first question. Gordon really did try to work, and actually made it halfway through the first question before it all went wrong.
He noticed it immediately.
A frost started to appear on the pencil where his fingers were touching it. It was quick to spread down the pencil, but Gordon was quicker in jumping out of his seat.
The pencil clattered to the ground, out of anyone's site, and his chair tipped over.
"Gordon?" His teacher stood up next to him. "What's the matter?"
Without even answering, Gordon ran out of the room. He had to get away before anything happened.
He ran straight into the bathroom and into one of the little cubicles. The door was quickly locked behind him and he sat down on the closed toilet lid just as the ice reappeared and started to spread across the floor.
He tucked his knees up to his chest and could feel his heart racing in panic as it wouldn't stop and started to creep up the walls. It wouldn't be long before someone came to check on him, given how quickly he darted from the classroom, and he had to get himself under control by then.
Sure enough, it was only a moment later when he heard a voice call from the doorway into the bathroom.
"Gordon? Is everything alright?" His teacher called, and Gordon felt himself panic even more. The ice grew along with it.
"Y-yeah!" Gordon replied shakily. He hoped she would just leave him alone, but he knew his voice betrayed him. Besides, she was an adult and adults always had a way of knowing when something was wrong.
He needed to take care of this. His dad had told him that it wouldn't be good if others found out what he could do.
He wished his dad were here right now. He would know just what to say to get Gordon to calm down.
But as he wasn't here, Gordon closed his eyes and thought about what he would say.
Just breathe.
Gordon sucked a deep breath into his lungs and let it out slowly. He did that several times until he felt his heart rate slow down.
He peeked an eye open and found that the ice had stopped spreading. Gordon slumped in relief, feeling a little proud at himself for gaining control all on his own.
However, he still had the problem of the ice that covered the cubicle from top to bottom. He couldn't just leave it like this as they would immediately know it was him.
Gordon had so far never tried to unfreeze something. That was something that he didn't think he'd learn until he was better at the actual freezing part of his power.
No better time to start than now.
He placed his feet on the floor, the ice crunching slightly under his shoes, and reached one hand out to touch the cold wall. He wasn't quite sure how he was meant to do this, but if his dad was right, it should come naturally to him.
He imagined the ice vanishing from all around him and the coldness he created dissipating from the air. It took a long second for anything to happen, but soon the ice started to disappear.
At first, he didn't know where it was going. But then he felt a brief chill wash over him followed by a dull throbbing pain in his head that felt distinctly like he'd gotten brain freeze.
The ice was gone, though, which was all that mattered.
Gordon timidly unlocked the door and hesitantly made his way out of the room, making sure that his powers really were under control for now. However, nothing he touched turned to ice, so he supposed he was good for now.
His teacher was standing out in the hallway, looking concerned but relieved when Gordon finally emerged.
"Gordon, what happened? Are you alright?"
Gordon knew he couldn't tell her anything, but he felt too rattled about the whole experience to go back to the classroom in case it happened again.
"I feel sick," he eventually replied, which wasn't far from the truth.
"Oh, alright. I'll take you to the nurse."
She guided him down the hallway to the nurse's office, where he was left in the care of the school nurse and she went back to the classroom.
He told the nurse that he had a headache, which wasn't entirely a lie, and the nurse decided to call his dad to pick him up.
Gordon sat on the edge of the bed that was in the office, gripping onto the squishy, plastic material of the mattress. He was tense with worry that he was going to do something wrong, and he just wanted to go home.
"Your dad's stuck at work, so your Grandma is going to pick you up, alright?" The nurse said as he came back into the room, and Gordon nodded in response.
When his Grandma showed up, the two of them didn't say much to each other until they had left the school and were in the safety of her car.
"Powers acting up again?" She asked before he'd even had a chance to do his seatbelt.
"Yeah," he sighed. He wasn't surprised that she knew what the real problem was, as this wasn't the first time he'd left school early because of his powers.
"Don't beat yourself up about it, kiddo. You're still learning."
"I feel like I can't do anything." Gordon slumped down in his seat.
"Why don't you tell me about what happened," his Grandma encouraged and squeezed his knee.
Gordon told her about losing control of his powers and how he had to hide in the bathroom before he managed to stop them, and then how he'd managed to reverse the effects of them.
"Then what do you mean you can't do anything?"
Gordon creased his brow at her, not understanding what she meant.
"You can do so much!" Her arms were thrown up in an excitement that Gordon was not joining her in feeling. "You are so incredibly powerful and strong, kiddo. You will go so far once you learn how to fully control your powers, but you have already grown so much in just a few months. Managing to stop them all on your own and then undoing the effects of them on top of that? That's huge!"
Gordon felt a small smile creep onto his face in pride. "I guess it is pretty big."
"Of course it is!" She reached over to ruffle his hair, but her hand lingered for long second. A moment later, the dull ache he had been feeling in his head was gone.
His Grandma then pulled her seatbelt on and went to start the car.
"What do you say we go and get some ice cream? I won't tell your dad if you won't."
Gordon nodded eagerly at her and she grinned widely back before she pulled out of the parking lot.
It was several months later, and things were different.
Gordon had gotten a better grasp on his powers and it was becoming even less frequent that he would stay home or leave school early because of them. He had even started to learn more tricks he could accomplish with them.
However, the biggest change was that now he was no longer alone.
"Remember to stay calm, John," their dad said from where he was standing to the side, watching them.
"And breathe!" Gordon supplied with a grin as he formed a ball of ice in his hands.
"Yes, and breathe," their dad chuckled as he sent a glance towards Gordon.
John visibly sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly before he stretched out one arm in front of him.
"Okay, I'm ready."
Gordon finished making the little ice sphere, and then much like he had done before, he threw it up into the air as high as he could.
He watched it intently as it reached its apex and then started to plummet toward the ground.
Gordon was expecting it to stop at any moment, but it never did, and instead crashed into the ground and broke into tiny shards, joining all the previous ice balls that had met the same fate.
John let out a deep sigh of frustration as he failed once again, and Gordon knew just what his brother was feeling.
"You'll get it soon, Johnny," Gordon smiled as he tried to stay optimistic for his brother.
"Yeah..." John sounded a little defeated at how long they had been at this, yet he didn't kick anything which meant he was taking it a little better than Gordon had.
"He's right, John," their dad said, before his phone started to ring. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. "Ah, I have to take this. Be right back."
He answered the call as he put the phone to his ear. The conversation quickly faded as he walked a little distance away, and Gordon turned to John to fill the time.
"Hey, John?"
"Yeah?" John looked up from where he had been digging the toe of his shoe in the dirt, and suddenly Gordon felt a little shy at what he was going to ask.
"Do...do people at school think I'm weird?" He asked hesitantly.
There was a long moment of silence as John looked at him in shock at his question.
"What makes you think that?" He finally asked when the surprise had worn off.
"I heard you talking to dad the other day." Gordon recalled when he had gone looking for John to ask if he wanted to play with him and Alan, and had instead heard him talking to their dad in his office about how he'd gotten his powers. "And people have started to treat me differently recently, like they know."
"Gordon, no one thinks you're weird. Well, maybe I do but that's because you're my brother and so I have to think that way." He smiled at Gordon, but Gordon wasn't entirely convinced.
"You're just saying that to be nice. But with these powers I just feel like I don't fit in anywhere."
Whilst Gordon spoke, his gaze had dropped to the floor, so he didn't noticed John moving towards him until he was right in front of him.
"If there's any place you fit in, then it's right here with us. We're all in this together, you're not alone." Gordon looked up at his older brother as he spoke, and John's smile was still holding steady. "If having powers makes you weird, then so be it. We are both weird together."
Gordon could help but let a smile stretch across his face at that. John was so smart and therefore always knew what to say.
"Do you want to try this again?" Gordon asked as he formed another ice ball in his hands, a new feeling of excitement coursing through him. If his brother could make him feel better, then the least Gordon could do was help him learn to control his power.
John nodded enthusiastically and moved back to the spot that he had been standing in before.
"Ready?" Gordon called, and when John nodded with a determined look on his face, Gordon threw the ball into the air again.
He tracked the ball again and watched as it fell back towards them. Gordon could feel his disappointment grow as the ball reached closer and closer to the ground, but then suddenly it stopped just a few feet from the floor.
"You did it!" Gordon cheered in excitement, but John just watched the hovering ball in disbelief.
"I did!"
It was at that moment that their dad started to make his way back over to them.
"What's going on?" He asked as he got closer.
"Dad, look! I stopped the ball!" John turned toward their dad to show him.
However, in doing so the ball moved with him, and it was at that moment that he lost control again. Instead of the ball hovering in front of him, it went flying towards the house, just narrowly missing smashing into a window.
The three of them tensed up as the ice shattered, almost as if they were expecting something terrible to happen from it. But nothing else happened, and a moment later they were all laughing.
"Seems like we still have a lot of work to do," their dad chuckled. "But this is a huge step."
John grinned and then turned to look at Gordon.
Gordon flashed him his own smile, and finally felt like maybe this was where he belonged.