This week on All My Mutant Children: Shiro, Lorna, Alex

[x-polarisstar.livejournal.com]

You knew this was coming. Shiro and Lorna run into each other in the foyer and Lorna is spoiling for a fight. A vase and Lorna's shirt are casualties.


Shiro was minding his own business. He'd suffered through as minimal human contact as he could manage the past couple of weeks, and was almost starting to feel mildly better. Between the shakes, nausea, gut-wrenching anxiety, and jackhammer migraines, at least. So when he found himself actually in the presence of another person - in Lorna's presence no less - he wished that any real or imaginary progress he thought he'd made had just never happened so he could have just kept himself locked in his room instead.

Worst part was, he was in the middle of the hallway, and there was nowhere to go without making a complete spectacle of himself.

Lorna had been doing equally well. Despite professing to Jean her need to break several bones in Shiro's body, she had managed to not so much as venture near him. Her anger had cooled and, since Alex appeared to be all right, she had let go of the part of her that begged for a swift and violent response. Or so she'd thought. Apparently, absence only made the heart grow fonder until you were confronted with horrible, physical, infuriating reality. "Shiro," she said, gritting the name past clenched teeth.

Around her, the EM spectrum rippled.

Shiro hissed and involuntarily took a step back. He had to fight the urge to clutch his head in pain, the sudden shift in electromagnetic force wreaking havoc with his own enhanced perception of the spectrum. The look on his face was clue enough, though. "Pardon me," he muttered, and tried to just pass her.

If he'd turned around and gone the other way, it might have been fine. Lorna did have some smidgen of self-control after all even if this week had sucked. But he came nearer instead and her reaction was as automatic as if he'd been a real threat. It wasn't precisely common knowledge, though it was hardly a secret, that Lorna carried a not insignificant amount of easily malleable metal on her at all times. It came in handy for a variety of tasks and emergencies. It also was a very good way to latch onto someone and throw them back against a wall, cuffs of gleaming metal at wrists and ankles. Sometime that Lorna demonstrated with a sharp hand gesture and a short, "No."

Before Shiro even knew what he was doing, the air ignited and a vase behind Lorna exploded. "Kuso! Let me go!" he shouted. He struggled vainly against the restraints, but knew full well that even had he been at perfect health, he'd still be just Lorna's plaything. "Let me go or I swear I will . . ."

The metal tightened abruptly as Lorna clenched her fists, reacting to the explosion. Not enough to break skin...yet. "Or you'll what?" she screamed back, "What are you going to do?" She flung her hands up, releasing him abruptly so that he hit the floor and quickly crossed the space between them. He was the better hand to hand fighter but she was too angry for small concerns like that. "Get up!"

He did, rubbing his wrists gingerly. He'd no doubt of what she wanted now, but there was no happiness or fulfillment at the thought of beating Lorna to a bloody pulp. Or incinerating her. Or some combination thereof. "I have no conflict with you," he said, and tried to push past her again. "Go home."

She shoved him back, "I should say the same to you. I don't care that it's hypocritical. You don't belong here, not after what you did. How many chances do you think you deserve?"

"How many do you deserve, Malice?" he spat back, clenching his fists so tightly that he drew blood on his palms. "You are the last person who should lecture anyone. At least what I have done is reparable. How are Josh Foley or Alison's father?"

Lorna flinched back, going white and wide-eyed but recovering quickly. "I know exactly what I did. Josh and Karen are never going to leave their hospital beds again. Neither of us deserve to be here. But I'm on my second chance. By my count? You're on three. And you fucked with Alex. I don't think that gets a pass." Her gaze flicked down to his hands, came back up, blazing hot. "You want to hit me?"

"There is little that I would like more. But you are not worth my time. If you really think that I am beyond hope, then go speak with Professor Xavier. Until he tells me to leave his house, then I will stay here." Shiro shoved Lorna aside roughly, leaving a black hand-shaped scorch mark on her shirt.

She shook with the effort not to hit him again. "Believe me, I will." The part of her brain closest to Malice reminded her that there was a much easier solution. Just a light touch and... Lorna whirled in her tracks and stalked away the opposite direction.

--------


Lorna heads home to change her shirt and Alex is less than amused by recent events.


It was a good thing that Lorna only lived a few minutes away from school because doing this before office hours was going to be tricky even if she didn't have to worry about being tracked down by one or more headmasters regarding her unprofessional, unacceptable and totally unregretted behavior. She did sort of wish she'd hit him harder. It would make the inevitable lecture worth it.

The fact that Lorna was thinking about getting out of trouble and what she was going to wear explained why she'd forgotten entirely that the cause of the fight was actually still a guest at her home and he was surely going to want an explanation for the black scorch mark on her chest.

An explanation was an understatement. Alex was sitting in the living room when Lorna returned, one of the books for his upcoming classes sitting in his lap as he got a start up on reading it before classes began. The dogs came rushing to the door before he even heard the key in the lock and he chuckled softly as he got up to wrangle them away from the door so Lorna wasn't completely mobbed when she walked in.

"Hey! Your home ear...what happened?!"

Lorna sidestepped Lili's initial rush without batting an eyelash and wrenched her attention away from who and back to what. "Um," she said cleverly, wondering how believable this had to be. "I got in a fight." Provoked a fight, had a fight, was going to get yelled at for trying to start a fight...they were all close to the same thing right? "No big deal."

Alex raised an eyebrow as he came forward and got a better look. He frowned. "You got into a fight with Shiro, didn't you."

"What, are there finger prints or something?" Lorna frowned and checked just to be sure. But the handprint was as anonymous as it could be considering it was made of singed cloth. "Don't worry, nothing happened. I just need to change then get back to school."

"Who else?" Alex said flatly. "What happened?"

Lorna gave him a steady look then brushed past him to head for her room. She was on borrowed time here as it was. "We ran into each other in the wall. Words were exchanged and...he's fine. I didn't hurt him." In her room, she mostly closed the door and stripped out of her blouse, touching the stinging pink skin below. It was no worse than a sun burn, hardly worth notice compared to the mess on the rest of her chest. She pulled a sweater over her head quickly. "We yelled, mostly. That's all."

Of course he followed her, but when he entered her room, Alex looked away discreetly. He couldn't hold in his sigh. 'Are you okay?" He wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but he wasn't exactly pleased with either of them. Still...

"Just fine. Not even blistered. He shoved me, that's all." Damned if she was going to admit that she started it though. Even if she had, it was still his fault. What he'd done to Alex... "The shirt's a total loss though. I like that shirt."

"Lorna..." Alex didn't know exactly how he wanted to finish that so he shook his head. "You don't have to defend me or anything, you know that right? I fully intend to confront Shiro when being around me won't be unhealthy for his progress." And hopefully by then he will have figured out what to say but still, he had a valid reason for the delay. "I don't want either of you to hurt each other because of me."

"He called me Malice. If he only knew..." Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head, heading back out of her room. "You're too nice, Alex. What if you're not the only one he can feed off? He needs to go." She checked the time, "And so do I. I'll be home for dinner."

"...he did what?" Alex's eyes went wide with both shock and anger, following her and lightly grabbing her arm. Shiro clearly needed help but that gave him no right to say things like that to Lorna. No right at all.

Lorna gave him a smile that was far from nice. He'd seen it on her face before but never directed at him. "I'm fine. I'm harder to hurt than that. Let me go, Alex."

And he did. But Alex had a determine look on his face as he followed her out to the car. "I'm coming with you."

Any other day Lorna would have argued or just flat out denied him the opportunity. But today, this time, she just sighed and nodded, "Fine. Get in."

-----------


Shiro and Alex have a talk.


Once Lorna had driven onto the mansion grounds, Alex had gotten complete control of his powers, completely stopping their normal into and outward flow from his body, just as he had that fateful day with Shiro. He was going to be totally wiped out again later, but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment, though later, not even Alex would be able to look back and tell if he did it so as to not hinder Shiro's healing...or so Shiro wouldn't know he was coming.

When they arrived, they'd both gotten out of the car in silence with Lorna rushing off to where she was expected and Alex heading up into the main living areas. If Lorna knew what Alex was going to do, she didn't say a word. Once inside, Alex stopped in a doorway and concentrated, letting some of his power go. Once he felt the slight pull to give him a general direction to head towards, he closed it off again and set off, a neutral expression on his face. It didn't match the anger he felt inside him, but then Alex didn't want to scare anyone.

Shiro had been more or less catatonic, lying on his bed and staring up at the ceiling. If asked, he'd argue that he was meditating and not brooding over everything Lorna had said. But that was a clear lie, as the second Alex slipped open his powers, Shiro jumped up and fell off his bed, crashing noisily to the floor. He got back to his feet, but then it was gone again, and the sudden disappearance sent a wave of longing and nausea through him, and he wavered on the spot. Maybe he'd just been dreaming it. He stumbled to the bathroom and looked at himself in the mirror. Was he that pathetic?

It took Alex only a matter of moments to reach Shiro's suite. A small part of his brain reminded him that he'd have to apologize to Tommy later if the other boy was in. He stood outside the door and took a deep breath, then knocked loudly. "Shiro! I need to talk to you."

Shiro gripped the counter when he heard Alex's voice, not even realizing that he'd burned in finger-sized marks. "C-coming," he called back, but he wasn't sure if his voice was loud enough to hear. After a quick check in the mirror to make sure he was at least semi-presentable, he slowly and calmly walked to the door and opened it. His fingers twitched when he saw Alex, longing to grab him and hold him. "H-hi."

Alex's grim expression should have been enough to discourage him, his own hands twitching but for a completely different reason. "What happened this morning?" He asked pointedly, keeping his voice calm.

"I was attacked." Shiro stepped aside to let Alex in. No one else needed to hear about this. "How could you go to her after what she did to you? Of everyone you could have spoken to . . ."

Alex didn't move. "It's not Lorna's fault we're in this situation in the first place, Shiro," he said flatly. The lack of expression in Alex's voice was frightening only that it so very rarely happened.

"But it is your fault that she involved herself now," Shiro retorted. He wavered between defensive and apprehensive at Alex's tone. "Did she tell you what actually happened, or did she just play righteous indignation because she is a bitch?"

"I trust her, which is more then I can say for you." Alex bit out. "And I don't care what happened! It gives you no right to call her what you did." The implication was plain and he had to stop himself from clenching his fists. "Leave her alone and I'll make sure she does too. I don't care what is going on between you two, but it needs to stop. Now."

"She attacked me! I tried to leave, and she used her powers to keep me from moving. Now I am the villain? What the fuck did she do to you to make you think like this?" Shiro shook, angry at Lorna for being herself, at Alex for not believing him, and himself for getting them all into this situation to begin with. The air shimmered, distorted, Shiro's ire peaked. "Maybe I should not be surprised," he spat, "You were never done with her."

Alex's hands glowed for a second as his concentration on keeping his powers contained wavered. "I never lied to anyone. And neither did she." He practically growled before throwing a punch right at Shiro's face. "You? Last time I checked, using people you love is as good as lying." He said as he attempted to hit him again, an anger he'd never felt before controlling his actions more then his sense.

There was no way Shiro would have seen the punch coming. The second Alex's control weakened, Shiro involuntarily tried to latch onto it. The shock of Alex hitting him (and actually being violent in the first place) knocked him out of that, and gave him enough warning to block the second blow. He was going to bruise tomorrow, though. "I did not use you," he said hoarsely, "I did not know what I was doing, either. You have to believe me. I have never lied to you before."

Shiro blocking his second blow made Alex blink and realize with a start what he was doing. He backed off, physically, but mentally he was still just as angry. "Pardon me if right now I find that hard to believe. Just leave us alone,Shiro. You have more important things to worry about than unfounded jealousy." He was beginning to feel the toil of holding in his powers and he wasn't sure how much longer he could last so he backed up a step out of the doorway as if to leave.

Shiro took a step back, too. Part of him wanted to lunge at Alex and beat some sense into him, but the other just wanted him gone so Shiro wouldn't have to think about him or be tantalized by him anymore. He opted to act on the latter; when in doubt, just be angry. "'Us'? Fine, she can have you. You two idiots deserve each other."

"Jesus, Shiro, when will you just just give it up! You know what I meant! There hasn't been anything between us since..." He faltered for a moment, remembering Thanksgiving in Hawaii and prom, "For a long time. When I was with you, I was with you." Then Alex just shook his head. "You know what, I give up. You wanna think that, fine. I don't care. But I do mean it. Stay way from me and Lorna."
Shiro spat a string of curses at Alex in Japanese, his tone oozing venom. He gripped the doorknob tightly, and the brass melted in his fingers. "Go to Hell, white boy," he finally brought himself to say in English.

Alex just made a disgusted face. "After you." Then he turned and left, hands clenched at his sides. He knew he wouldn't make it off school grounds before he lost control, so he began to run once he was down the hall and around the corner. He had to get outside and release his pent up powers, thanking god that it gave him something to think about...other then his sudden urge to break down in tears.

Shiro made a mental note to cut a check for Marko to replace the vase downstairs and the suite door. Being so close to Alex and his powers physically hurt, and he nearly fell over when he felt Alex let it all go. He just barely made it to the toilet before he crumpled to his knees and emptied his stomach. "Damn it, I'm sorry," he moaned.