Chapter Text
The last few weeks had been a whirlwind for Eve. First, Amber showed up at her treehouse, clearly in need of talking with a peer about the relationship problems she was going through with Mark. She listened to her venting about how they had barely any time for one another due to Mark’s work as Invincible, and how Amber felt a twang of guilt every time she kept Mark with her instead of him being out in the skies, saving people in need. Then, on a late night when she was observing the stars from the bridge base that once housed Teen Team, Mark had shown up with a black eye and a weary expression on his face. She had been filled in by Cecil on what happened with Mark and Angstrom Levy, so she had a good idea of what was swirling through his mind at the time. However, there was something else that she noticed as well: how Mark looked like he was going to confess something important to her, before changing his mind about it at the last second. Eve didn’t push him on it, and instead offered him some quiet support as they sat.
During this time, her dad’s words from the argument that they had about the usage of her powers kept haunting her thoughts. She kept milling over them during moments where her brain wasn’t occupied by other events, before admitting to herself that he did have a point; she didn’t know nearly enough about building safe structures for people to live in to use her powers on creating those.
“Make the world you want to live in, right?”
Amber’s words, spoken a long time ago, rang through her mind. The words held a deep-seated truth in them for Eve, and with her transmutation powers, she could apply them a fair bit more literally than most people ever could hope to pull off. She kept thinking to herself that if she really wanted to make Amber's words a reality, she would need the right expertise. With that in the back of her mind, she sat down at her desk, laptop in front of her, and started writing her application letter.
The words flowed easily as she tapped into the experiences and motivations that had shaped her as a person so far, even as she was carefully omitting any potential hint to her identity as Atom Eve. She stopped typing after the letter had spilled over onto a second page, reading over it one last time before sending it off to the students administration of Upstate University.
A few days after she had sent her letter out, Eve was patrolling across the state. She was aiding farmers with their crops as she flew over, before returning to the treehouse with a tired, yet satisfied feeling. She opened her laptop to find an email from Upstate University waiting for her, telling her that she was accepted into their part-time Architecture and Structural Engineering classes, and that if she wished to do so, she could live on-campus for the duration of her courses.
The option presented to her left Eve with another dilemma. She knew that she couldn't live in the treehouse for much longer, as it seemed to be one bad day away from completely collapsing out from under her. She had already made peace with having to move back in with her parents, complete with putting in some extra work to try and fix the fraught bonds that she had with them. On the other hand, Upstate's offer of lodging would allow her to continue to discover herself separately from the oppressive atmosphere that has been a constant in her family home.
She was busy weighing the options in her head when she heard the unmistakable sound of an incoming text on her phone. She picked up the phone, and opened it to see a text from Amber.
[Amber: Hey Eve, it's been a while since we last talked.]
[Amber: Want to have a coffee sometime soon and catch up?]
Eve's reply was swift.
[Sounds good! Does tomorrow morning work for you?]
Eve waited for what seemed to be three seconds before the three dots that indicated someone typing appeared, with Amber's answer coming in shortly after that.
[Amber: Tomorrow works for me. See you on campus at 10?]
[Great, see you then!]
Eve put her phone down next to her bed once she had sent her final reply as she felt sleep taking a hold of her. She let herself fall down onto the soft mattress, dozing off almost immediately after her head hit her pillow.
Eve felt refreshed as she woke up the next morning. She made herself a nice cereal breakfast out of some leaves and a small application of her powers, before dressing herself with another lazy flick of her wrist. A lime-green tank top, a pair of simple denim jeans and a dark gray jacket that fit snugly around her shoulders materialised onto her body. She also created a set of earrings with pink dangles shaped like a broad, lowercase I, which she put on with a deft hand.
After she got herself dressed, Eve took to the skies, treetops gliding under her as she made her way to the campus of Upstate University. Upon her arrival, she landed a little ways out from the hustle and bustle of students, carefully ensuring that no one saw her descend from the air. She walked towards the central square, taking in the atmosphere of the campus as she went. She envisioned herself living among the other students, joining them in various activities on the university premises and maybe some fun nights off it. A silly epiphany popped up in her mind; she could be the undisputed queen of drinking games on campus with some sneaky application of her powers, which made her chuckle a little bit.
Eve had just made her way to the fountain in the centre of campus when Amber arrived, looking as effortlessly stylish as ever. The light colours of her outfit helped her face and curls stand out, and the self-assuredness with which she carried herself only served to emphasise them even more. Amber noticed her quickly, and she moved towards her, a small smile showing on her face.
“Hey, Eve! Glad you could make it”, Amber greeted her warmly.
“Hi Amber!” Eve returned her greeting. “I cleared my schedule for you,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “not that I have one these days”. Amber laughed at Eve’s little joke, yet a feeling of warmth grew in her chest on hearing her remark.
“Thanks”, and now it was Amber’s turn to adopt a hushed tone, “so no problems requiring Atom Eve today?” She knew that Eve could be almost as busy as Mark sometimes, using her powers to improve the world. Eve had told her a few times about the work she was putting in across the American landscapes, which Amber never tired of listening to.
“Nothing… at least, not this morning”, Eve confirmed to her. “Shall we get some coffee and properly catch up?”
“Sounds good. I know a great place for coffee nearby, follow me”, Amber beckoned, leading Eve towards the cafe that she regularly visited.
The cafe wasn’t too far from the fountain, and as soon as they entered, the two women headed over to the counter and ordered two black coffees. They waited at the small table containing the coffee additives while their drinks were being brewed, both of them grabbing a packet of sugar and a stirring stick in anticipation. They received their drinks quite quickly, thanks to the cafe being quite empty outside of them and the personnel.
“I’m glad we missed the flood”, Amber quipped. Eve raised an eyebrow at her.
“I mean… this place is always packed with students grabbing a coffee on the go before the first lectures of the day”, she clarified further. “But now, we can pick any table we want.” Amber set her coffee down on a fairly isolated table near the windows and sat, with Eve following suit opposite her.
“So… how’s college life going for you?” Eve opened, stirring sugar through her coffee as she spoke.
“Mostly OK so far, I like my classes. I did have a rough time a few months ago, when my grandpa died”, Amber mused.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Amber”, Eve consoled.
“Thanks, Eve, I appreciate it. I knew it was going to happen some day, but I hoped it would be later into the future. However, I guess it was his time then. I’ve made peace with it by now, but college was definitely not my main worry at that time”, Amber continued on. She stirred her own sugar through her coffee, before taking a small sip of the still piping-hot liquid.
“I get it. Losing a family member is always hard. The pain will never really go away, but with time, you will find a way to live with it.” Eve spoke softly, letting the weight of her words do the work. The faces of her mother and Dr. Brandyworth briefly floated in front of her mind’s eye as she spoke.
“You’re right,” Amber nodded. “How have you been, though? I heard from Mark that you helped fend off an alien invasion in space”, she inquired further.
“Well… I didn’t do much in that fight, it was mostly him,” Eve instinctually downplayed.
“Nonsense, Eve”, Amber interjected. “From what he told me, they would’ve utterly failed if you weren’t there. He told me about how you saved the entire team from being blown up on arrival, and how you bought time for Robot to build the sequid-repelling device.”
“Maybe…”, Eve trailed slightly, “but if Mark wasn’t there, we would’ve never gotten away from them. He freed their host from their control… and me.” Eve shuddered at the recall of how the sequids had hijacked her mind. “He also helped us escape from the ship and back to Earth. Speaking of, how are you and Mark?”
“We broke up a few days ago”, Amber stated solemnly. “You already know how I felt like I was failing him, and then some Viltrumite woman showed up and held me hostage. I felt so afraid and powerless at that moment, and that hurt me.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait a second. Another Viltrumite showed up on Earth?” Eve interrupted Amber, surprised at the news.
“Yeah. She threatened to tear my head off, and I wouldn’t have been able to do a thing about it.” She shuddered as she remembered the vice-like grip that the Viltrumite woman had on her neck. “I don’t know everything that happened between them, but Mark did come back looking like he had the shit beaten out of him. It wasn’t as bad as last year,” Amber hurriedly tacked on upon seeing Eve’s horrified face, “but it still looked rough. That was the final straw, you know? Mark and I… we were not meant to work. I don’t want to feel powerless in a relationship, but with the villains he has, I inevitably, at some point, would feel the same way as I did that night. Our worlds are simply too different.”
“That’s not the only thing that happened with Mark. Debbie and his little brother got attacked by some mad scientist type, threatening to strand them in an alternate dimension. That guy broke Debbie’s arm, and Mark… snapped. He killed him, but he got stranded in an alternate dimension and had to be rescued by a future version of the Guardians of the Globe.” Eve omitted the part where Mark visited her at her hidden base, and got oh so close to confessing something deeply personal to her before deciding against it.
“Jesus… I know Mark got a phone call from home a few minutes after we broke up, but I didn’t foresee that ending in pain as well.” They drank their now-colder coffee in a period of relative silence when Eve remembered her most recent development.
“There’s one more thing going on with me, though”, Eve mentioned. “I have enrolled in some architecture and structural engineering classes here the other day. You know, since I make and build stuff with my powers. I want to get better at it so that I can build good housing for people where and when they need it. As a smarter woman than me once said: make the world you want to live in, right?” Amber chuckled when she heard her own words returned to her, clasping her hand over her face to try and hide the slight blush that she felt coming up when she heard Eve’s compliment.
“Hang on…”, Amber quizzed, “you mean here here?”
“Yes, I mean here at Upstate U. It’s close to everywhere I need to be, and the faculties are good. I also have the option to live here on campus as I follow my classes, but I’m not sure if I am going to do that at the moment.”
“You could room with me”, Amber suggested. “My old roommate dropped out early, and I would like to have someone around to regularly talk with.”
Eve mulled over the idea of rooming with Amber for what felt to her as a surprisingly brief amount of time. She weighed up the pros and cons of living with Amber versus living with her parents, and quickly came to the conclusion that the former would be much better for her.
“That sounds great! How will it be arranged, though?” Eve wondered, the practical side of her brain working overtime.
“I’ll let the housing council know that I’ve found a roommate, and I’ll give them your student number for details”, Amber reassured her quickly. “Text me the number?”
Eve grabbed her phone, checked her email for the acceptance letter, then copy-pasted her student number into a text to Amber.
“I got the number”, Amber confirmed happily. “I’ll make sure that everything gets settled with the council as soon as possible so that you can move in before your classes start.”
“Thanks, Amber, you’re the best!” Eve exclaimed, before the two women finished their coffees.
They stepped back outside and walked to a secluded alley on-campus where Eve could safely take off.
“See you soon, roomie”, Amber waved at Eve, who had started to hover ever so slightly off the ground.
“See you soon!” Eve waved back, before taking off to the skies. The flight felt a lot lighter to her now, as if a weight that she didn’t even knew existed had fallen off her shoulders for a brief time. She was about to enter a new phase in her journey of self-discovery, and for the first time in a while, she could look forward to really having someone with her along the way.