Tensor

Josh sighed, leaning back in his wheelchair and looking up at the sky. It was a beautiful day. Blue sky, bright sun, cool breeze (which was likely someone's doing) and lots of shade. He didn't know how long they'd been outside, but he was starting to get agitated.

He shifted uncomfortably, frowning slightly when it didn't relieve anything immediately.

The beeping was what he noticed first. A slow, high pitched 'Boop, Boop, Boop' that was incredibly annoying. He was accustomed enough to the sounds of hospitals that he knew what it was and how to turn it off, but was also aware it only made that sound when attached to someone. He listened to it for a while, trying to read the patient's stats and not liking what he was concluding.

It wasn't until he tried to move that he realized he couldn't. Nothing would obey him. His eyes didn't open, his lips didn't part, his head didn't roll and his fingers didn't twitch. The only thing that did respond was the pitch of the machine that was suddenly blaring 'Beep, Beep, Beep' in an urgent, even more annoying tone.

It was about then Josh made the connection. The machine was attached to HIM. Which meant he was in the HOSPITAL. Something that was supposedly impossible.

The panic followed almost directly after the realization. Why was he in the hospital?! What'd happened?! Where was he?! And more importantly, where were Kevin and Julian?! Were they hurt too? Were they even still alive?! What was happening?! The questions swirled faster, lumped closer together until Josh's brain was only processing: Hospital. Kevin and Julian missing. HOSPITAL. The 'DEETDEETDEET' of the machine gave way to a screeching 'EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE'

Josh felt the pressure rising and braced himself as it exploded in all directions. And suddenly he could move. His whole body rocked with the start, eyes flying open at the same time as he gasped, back dropping into the bed. His free hand gripped the material beneath him like a vice as his left heel slid against the bed. His body weak and half of it weighed down so heavily he didn't even shift.

And then it hit him. A WAVE of pain that had his chest seizing, and his nerves on fire. His throat was dry and he swallowed to the feel of tubes. Suddenly surrounded by people, he tried to pull at his power and ended up feeling his head explode. He barely felt the blood slide down, but he tasted it as it dripped into his mouth.

Hands gently but firmly pushed him down. Voices, muffled and far away shouted at him. And then his body got tired and he felt heavy and slow, and the pain bled away.

( I just want you back. Any way I can have you. )

Katherine Ford carefully smoothed the hair back from her son's face with a gloved hand. She hadn't anticipated the first time she'd be able to do that in nearly two years involving narcotic and stress-induced sleep, and she sighed quietly as she turned away from his bed, wishing she could follow the touch with a kiss to his forehead the way she had when he'd been little.

"He'll wake up soon, Grace. I'm sure of it," she told the other woman in the room as she crossed to Josh's bed...and stooped to give him the kiss (on his cheek, carefully away from the bandages swathing his head) that she hadn't been able to give her own son. "Even if it's just self-defense against mortification." She smiled and reached across to touch her hand gently. "He was such a beautiful little boy," she added quietly. Fondly. "Just as beautiful as he is now."

Petra had been by the hospital every day since her release, visiting her friends and generally annoying the staff with her requests to see Kevin, Josh and anyone else who hadn't yet been allowed visitors. Of course, being Petra, her annoying was accompanied by brownies, cookies and random knitted items, so the staff were usually quite happy to see her. Especially today when they got to tell her that, yes, she could see Kevin today.

She'd met Kevin's parents as they left the room, reminding them who she was, catching up and giving them the extra-tight, unrestrained hugs that she knew Kevin couldn't. Before going in Petra zipped up her Kevin-proof hoodie, stuck the Kevin-proof gloves in the front pocket and made sure her hair was pulled back from her face. She didn't want a stupid mistake to mar their visit or Kevin's recovery.

"Knock, knock," Petra called as she knocked on the door then entered Kevin's room. Wow. he didn't look so good. No wonder they hadn't allowed him visitors before. "I'm here to be your ray of sunshine!" she said happily, firmly pushing from her mind the reason Kevin was in the hospital and her head hurt like- well. Like a motherfucker, if she was being honest. not that she'd ever SAY that, but she could think it.

Though most of the week had been rainy, Saturday was shaping up to be a nice, sunny day. The change in weather had brought tourists and locals alike out of hiding, and the mall was buzzing with activity. The students and chaperons of the Xavier Academy were spread throughout the mall and museum buildings, having agreed upon times to meet up and check in before being sent off to see as much as possible in the time they had. By about an hour after lunchtime, a lot of them had breezed through at least one of the museums and were headed on to their scheduled tours or to their next destination.

Few, if any, really noticed the young man crossing the grass in front of the castle, wearing nothing that identified him as a member of any of the numerous school groups on the grounds that day. He was obviously disoriented, sweating profusely and staggering as he made his way out of the castle and across the mall. He stumbled once and nearly fell to his knees before he recovered, which prompted a girl nearby to stop and take notice of him. She asked him if he needed help, laid a hand on his shoulder as he turned wide, pain-filled eyes on her...and then they both disappeared in a blast of heat and light that ripped across the mall like a tiny nuclear explosion.

The people nearest the blast were incinerated almost instantly, though the heat dissipated away quickly as a concussive blast rolled across the lawn, tossing people in front of it like rag dolls thrown by a giant's hand. The west wing of the castle simply buckled at the impact, stone toppling down to crush the dozens of unsuspecting tourists in and around it before they even had time to register the explosion. The east wing buckled and groaned dangerously as well, its collapse simply slower and less complete as the shock wave continued on, buckling walls and foundations, blowing out windows and bringing down sections of roof in the buildings beyond.

But even as the initial explosion finally reached its limit, a domino effect magnified the chaos as hundreds of powered tourists, adults and children alike, reflexively powered up in response to the catastrophe, some of them losing control entirely. There were smaller explosions and tongues of flame here and there among the ruins as dust swirled in the air, and it was only a matter of moments before the first sirens began to wail in the distance. At the scene of the disaster, though, the sound of them was lost almost completely in the sound of panicked voices crying out in fear and pain.


(OOC: Please create sub-threads below for the events and immediate aftermath. Feel free to actually play out the actual explosion and how your character responds or to simply do a narrative of what happened to them and move to the aftermath if you're more comfortable with that. Remember, there's about a ten minute window of opportunity for heroism before local emergency responders and SHIELD will be on site and beginning to take over, though the cadets will definitely be co-opted into the rescue effort. The worst injured will, initially, be taken to area hospitals once rescued, but the Academy students will, once stable, be transported back to the school's med center for continuing treatment there. Parents are, of course, welcome to take their children home for treatment if they desire, but between the school and the SHIELD facility attached to it, they have access to pretty much the best healers in the country. This does, however, still mean a relatively slow recovery for anyone with severe injuries given the general caliber of even exceptionally talented healers does not begin to compare to the very very few omega healers scattered across the globe.)

ETA: GUYS, WE KINDA SUCK AND FORGOT TO TELL YOU THAT THEY GOT BUSED UP TO DC FRIDAY AFTER SCHOOL so they could have all of Saturday at the Smithsonian, and thus why they already got to see cool stuff Saturday before boom rather than spending it all on a bus. Also, for sleeping arrangements, if your roomie went you got matched up with them plus the 2 others you share a suite with (so 4 to a room, and if you have no PC/NPC roomies then NPCs will have taken the spots), other than the chaperons who got spread around in singles for supervisory purposes. Sorry!

Who: Kevin and Julian
When: some random day later in robobaby week
Where: somewhere on campus
What: failing to get along

( We’ll never be friends again, but it’s better for all of us if we’re not enemies. I’ve never been accused of playing fair when all bets are off. )

Josh was nervous. He didn't like the fact that he was nervous about something that related to Kevin. Unfortunately, a few months of unaccustomed and unwelcome feelings in regard to his boyfriend helped soften the blow. It didn't make him any less nervous however. In fact, it made him more nervous.

He'd ordered the gift half a year ago, when everything had been normal and happy for them. When they still understood one another. When every thought, gesture or spoken word from Josh wasn't some delegated time bomb to hurt Kevin. Not that he was doing it on purpose. God, if he could be doing none of it at all!

The unfortunate fact was, he was and he would continue to. He didn't know how long it would last. He didn't know how long any of them could endure it. And the minute one of them could no longer bear it would be the minute Josh lost everything.

He mentally shook himself. Today was not that day. Today, Kevin still loved him. More importantly, no, most importantly today was Kevin's birthday. A day that, eighteen years ago - even before he was born - would change Josh's life forever.

He smiled to himself and fingered the wrapped box. God, he hoped he didn't hate it.

Who: Kevin and Julian
When: Monday of robobaby week
Where: somewhere on campus
What: scheduling


( I'm fairly sure infant death would guarantee a failing score )

Who: Josh, Kevin and Julian
When: Wednesday 4/27
Where: Josh and Mark’s room
What: Try to work it out.

( How should we do this? )

It had been a long day - a long weekend, honestly - but a really good one, for the first time in weeks. Not just passable or fairly decent, but actively just...really fucking good from beginning to end. He and Josh had seen a movie on Friday night, and wandered around town afterwards just talking and hanging out. It had felt so damned close to completely normal that Kevin had gone for long stretches without even wondering or worrying about what the fuck was up with Keller and how much longer he was going to leave them both twisting in the wind. Or how much things would change once he finally sucked it the hell up and answered one way or the other.

And Saturday had been even better, the whole day spent in New York City, goofing around and being incredibly, ridiculously touristy. They'd barely scraped back in under curfew, and for once he'd hardly slept because he was still so buzzed from the day instead of because he was too twisted up with worry and fear. And Easter itself had pretty much just been the icing on the metaphorical cake. He and Josh had spent most of the day outside, trying out the bizarre and entertaining array of bubble wands and guns and...just about anything you could make bubbles with that his mom had sent. Including some giant rope hoop that was so big it took the pair of them to work. They'd nearly managed to get an elementary student encased in one of the enormous bubbles it made, but it popped every time, leaving assorted little kids sticky as hell and giggling.

Of course, all that fun meant that he'd hardly looked at his homework all weekend, and now he was sprawled on his bed, well after lights out, and trying to get through the last of his calculus before he could turn the lights out and crash. He was incredibly lucky that Santo pretty much never wanted to go to bed by curfew...or generally even for a few hours after it.

"Have I told you lately that you're definitely the best room-mate ever?" he asked, looking up from his book - and the last two problems, thank god - to grin at said room-mate. Yeah, he was definitely in a really good mood after the weekend.

Josh was kind of weirdly edgy and standoffish every time Kevin saw him. They didn't have breakfast together - or Kevin didn't sit with Josh for his breakfast, since he didn't eat - like they'd gotten back into the habit of before spring break. Kevin didn't see him at lunch either, and he was starting to get pretty damned nervous about what was causing it, especially since he knew Josh had spoken to Julian right after he'd gotten back from Nepal and that he was still waiting for an answer. So he used the last few minutes of lunch break to log onto the journal network, intending to leave Josh a message, ask if they were still on for getting together after classes to hang out and do homework...and saw Josh's post.

Kevin dug out his earbuds and listened to it four times through before the end of lunch bell rang, and another three times before he was shooed out of his seat in a quiet corner of the library by a librarian and dashed off to class, chest aching. Even if he'd had time to replay at that point he didn't think he would have. He didn't want to talk to Josh about this online, he wanted to be able to see him and touch him, and he was jittery for the rest of the day as he waited for a chance to hunt him down and talk to him.

Which didn't come until after both classes and his mandatory daily training session were over. Kevin didn't bother changing after training, just made sure the ash was all wiped from his hands and almost bolted for Josh's room. Josh should be there by now, and Mark should be out and about. He knocked on the door, quick and soft, but didn't bother waiting for an answer before letting himself in.

"I saw it," he told Josh quietly as he pushed the door closed behind him. "But not until just at the end of lunch. I listened to it over and over until they chased me out of the library to classes. I...jesus, Josh, I miss you talking to me with your music."

Monday night and not only was Josh still not back, but he'd missed their lunchtime Skype date...which might mean (hopefully meant) he was on his way back (because one of the alternatives was that something had gone wrong and the thought made his stomach ache and his skin go cold), but that didn't give Kevin any clue when he might show up. If he would. He'd been restless and worried all afternoon, unable to focus in any of his classes, or on his homework after. Yeah, Josh had missed another date earlier in his trip because they'd been moving between cities at the appointed time, but that didn't mean that was why it had happened this time.

By the time night rolled around he'd gone from a bit worried and distracted to kind of a wreck, even though he knew there was no point letting himself get caught up in worry. He wouldn't hear anything from Josh until their next scheduled 'date' at the earliest. He'd gotten ready for bed early, because the alternative was pacing more and being a general pain in the ass, and maybe if he could get to sleep he'd at least be able to stop worrying. Or he'd just have hellish nightmares. Like the last time.

Either way, he changed into pyjamas and crawled into bed not long after nine. He didn't even bother trying to read, he knew he'd just read the same sentence over and over and over again. He was still lying in bed, awake, when he heard Santo get ready for bed and crawl in as well. And then he lay there in the dark and silence and tried very very hard to remind himself that Josh was traveling. Schedules got shot all the time when you were traveling - not that he'd know - and it was no big deal. He'd hear from him tomorrow, or maybe see him if he was finally coming back, and everything would be fine. Really.

( Emergency training. Sorry. My room after )

Who: Josh and Kevin
When: Sunday, 3/20 (After Josh/Julian)
Where: Kevin's studio
What: Confront infidelity

( It hurts when I see you struggle. )

Who: Julian and Kevin
When: Saturday, 3/12
Where: Kevin's room
What: heading towards an understanding

( We could try an icebreaker to get rid of the tension, but I think we already exhausted sports and the weather, )

Who: Kevin and Josh
When: Tuesday, 3/1 immediately after the lake party
Where: On the way back to the dorms and in Josh's room
What: Dealing with fallout

( It's not okay! It's never going to be okay! )

The far end of the lake was distant enough from the dorms that they could be as loud as they wanted, within reason. It was hidden enough by trees that carefully placed lanterns wouldn't give them away, though the vast majority of the light came from the moon.

Clint had taken the time to hang up ropes to swing into the deeper waters. There were a few pool toys borrowed from the shed and plenty of towels. Music played, switching genres almost schizophrenically as each song ended, and some food and drinks sat in hastily gathered coolers. There was even alcohol held in a cooler that proclaimed, probably not for you.

A throng of later high school and college students were there, roughly a quarter skinnydipping thanks to one of the high schooler's abilility to keep the water warm and comfortable. Everyone seemed to be having one hell of a time.

They'd let Kevin burn through his powers until he stopped feeling like he needed to tear his own skin off the first night. Hadn't even risked trying to question him until that was done. And the fact that questioning him would have been an actual risk at the time still made his stomach twist into painful knots. But it would have. His skin had been crawling with need and all he'd seen anywhere was death. Even when he'd flashed a room bare in a heartbeat, burned through more than a week's training allotment of organics in moments, the death sight hadn't faded. It still hadn't.

And then the questioning had come. Hours of it. About who had said what and when. How they'd said it. How Josh had reacted and how he'd reacted to Josh. How he'd felt. What Julian's role in it all had been. How far gone his control had been shot to hell before he'd gotten out of there with Julian along to try and keep everyone safe from him as they'd made their way across campus.

If he'd ever entertained the intent to actually touch Josh.

That one still echoed in his mind. Along with the sharp stab of absolute horror the question had inspired. He'd managed to choke out a negative before his stomach won the battle he'd been fighting against it since Josh's room, and he'd heaved up ashy bile on the floor between his feet.

( They'd finally let him sleep then. Or try to. )

Mark was out for the day and Kevin had come by to see what Evan had sent over. They'd discussed it for a while (and tested the material by making out) before setting it aside for a better time. Spontaneous intimacy was kind of difficult when you had to plan out how to go about touching. The suit had gotten them talking though (as if they ever needed much excuse) and it had lead to nostalgia. Which had ended in Josh showing him the collection Kevin had created and Josh had compiled over the years.

"This one's my favorite," he said, picking up a small gold cast humanoid with outstretched limbs. He rocked his leg, which in turn rocked Kevin's. "I can't believe I actually turned gold." He looked at him from the corner of his eye, beneath gold lashes. "Or that you liked it." He laughed softly.