Back to Jen and Allie's

You have another cup of coffee as a lighthearted dialogue between yourself, Annabeth and Britney takes place. It bittersweetly reminds you of the atmosphere of the first night you were in town. Once you finish your second cup and Annabeth does as well, the two of you are off for the day.

You steel yourself in anticipation of what is bound to be an unpleasant confrontation as you knock on Jennifer's door. Since you don't technically live there- not on a permanent basis at least- it's only polite that you knock.

Jennifer is the one who answers the door. Predictably, she isn't the slightest bit happy. With her ire primarily focused on you, she fails to spot her classmate. "Where have you been!?"

"With Annabeth," you reply as you point to the red head over your shoulder.

Jen looks shocked at seeing her there. She shrugs it off, as she holds up her tablet. "What the hell is this!?"

On the tablet is an article with two photos of two very familiar people at the heading. The first is Beastman, who looks like he went ten rounds with...

Normally, the likes of Mike Tyson or Floyd Mayweather would be a sufficient adversary, but given that Beastman could probably maul them both to **** long before either could even think about throwing a punch, you find them deficient to use in the case, even within the sanctity of your own mind.

Beastman looked like he had gone ten rounds with Tank of the Justice ****. The second pic was of the loud mouthed idiot thug, who was apparently known as 'Demo', short for Demolitions. He wasn't looking much better given that in the pic not only was his face scraped by the asphault from where you dropped him the previous evening. Both photos were in black and white to minimize the gruesome nature of the photos, but Demo's photo still looked bad given that he was bleeding from his eyes, ears and nose.

"How's Allyson?" you ask, ignoring her inquiry.

This only sets her off even more. The first reason was because you ignored her.

"Dancing around like a Disney Princess," Jennifer stated in an accusatory tone.

The second reason was due to the fact that you'd obviously used your powers on her roommate.

Sidestepping your sister, you walk passed her to find that Allie is humming and dancing while straighening up the apartment. When she sees you, she, as impossible as it might seem, visibly brightens. "James!"

Much like Kathy did that first night, Allie runs up to you and tightly hugs you. Lucky, she was more somehow reserved than your sister's cousin, and you didn't almost get tackled to the ground.

"Where have you been? We've missed you!" Allyson gushed. You pull slightly away from her and grip the sides of her face with your hands, your index fingers positioned at her temples and you stare deeply into her eyes. She didn't have the outlet you had last night and you are very concerned about adverse effects a sudden crash in her emotional state might have her do. "What...?"

"Shhhh...." you say soothingly, as you set about carefully altering her emotional state back to normal- well normal-ish. You complete return to her usual emotional state would likely see her trying to pummel you into the ground. Something in the ballpark, but still slightly elevated, would limit her breakdown and have her be not nearly as likely to retaliate.

Allyson becomes less and less elated to see you and if glaring at you. "Give me one good reason not to slap the living hell out of you!" she orders.

You telekinetically snatch the tablet out of Jennifer's hand and santch it out of thin air, showing it to her. "That's what I did when I left last night after screwing with both of our heads."

Jennifer took a deep breath and counted to at least ten. "What exactly did you do last night?"

"After you stormed off, I had a brief chat with Allyson and tried to take on some of her more negative emotions while sending her feelings of comfort. Only my control isn't 100% at the best of times and I wasn't at my best," you explain. "Allyson was all sunshine and rainbows all night and I... Wasn't. Luckily, Annabeth found me not long after that and let me crash at her place."

"Fuck," Allyson cursed. "I forgot what it was like living with a meta."

"Sorry," you sincerely apologize.

"I'm... I'm just gonna lie down for a bit..." Allyson said as she retreated back to her room.

"She never told me she lived with a meta," Jennifer commented after Allyson closed the door.

"Her ex," you inform her.

Jennifer and Annabeth both look at you with wide-eyed surprise. You merely shrug in response.

"How in the hell do you know that?" Jennifer asked demandingly.

"She told me last night. It's what prompted me to try what I did- only I over did it," you explain.

Jennifer sighs tiredly. "I better call Kath and make sure she knows you're back. When I noticed you weren't her this morning, I thought you might have gone to her place. After that, I saw the article and that's when I discovered Allie acting like she was."

"Long morning?" you ask with a weak conciliatory smile.

"You have no idea," Jennifer replied to you exhaustedly before adressing Annabeth. "Thank you, Beth, for looking out for my brother."

"Anytime," Annabeth said with a smile as she gave you a fond sidelong glance. Jennifer's eyes widened at the look, but she shook her head, obviously not wanting to know. "It was nice to see you again, James. Let's get together again, soon." She quickly hugs you and kisses your cheek as she all but flounces out of the apartment.

Jennifer is looking conflicted about how she wants to react to that interaction. After a moment of contemplation, she decides to bite the bullet. "What's going on there?"

"I'm not entirely certain myself," you answer honestly. You still haven't gotten fully comfortable with the connection the two of you shared and are extremely **** to share that tidbit with anyone, including your sister. "Besides, I don't exactly know a lot of people here. You're my sister, Kathy's off-limits, Allyson likes women, and a barely met Annabeth's roommate this morning."

"Just... Be careful, James," Jennifer advises you.

She is very torn on what to feel at that moment. On the one hand, she wanted you and Kathy to be happy. On the other, it still weirded her out that they two of you had those types of feelings for each other. Though it was an unspoken thing, she was well aware of the fact that Kathy's crush on you had never waned in the slightest. She was also pretty sure, though not nearly as certain, that the feelings you shared with Kathy didn't go completely away for you either. Adding Annabeth to the mix was a recipe for disaster, one periferally caused by herself as Jennifer had been the one forbidding you and Kathy from having any sort of nonplatonic relationship with one another.

"Are you okay?" you ask in concern.

"Not even a little bit," Jennifer admits.

"I really am sorry about everything," you tell her as you slump down on the couch.

"I know you are," Jennifer assures you as she practically sits on your lap, hugging you around the middle and cuddling into you. Both of you are in need of comfort. "I really do, but so much has changed... I'm actually beginning the miss the days we'd spend at mom's or Aunt Diane's, when it would be just you, me and Kathy against the world of our mother's creation."

"Speak for yourself," you respond with a humorless huff, "I've spent most of the last decade wanting to get away from my parent's house. It's going to take a lot for me to miss that place."

"You look a lot like the pictures of our Dad at your age," Jennifer mentions.

"That doesn't excuse them for treating me like a pariah for years," you argue. "Dad at least could admit to being an asshole and even mostly grew beyond it. Mother and I can barely stand to be in the same house for more than a few hours at a time without being at each other's throats, which of course led to Dad getting involved and automatically taking her side. Having you guys visit was a godsend, because they lighten up and I wouldn't have to deal with Caitlyn or Miranda on my own."

"I know, and I agree, but I'm just saying they had their reasons for being like they were, even if those reasons weren't very good ones," Jennifer responds.

"I love you, Jen," you tell her.

She tiredly smiles at you. "I know." The two of you share a brief laugh. "Can you get me my tablet? I have to let Kathy know you're here so she can stop worrying too."

You look around and spot where Allyson put it down, once more using telekinesis to bring it to you, placing it into Jennifer's hands this time. As she messages Kathy, you can only hope that things will get easier from here.