i lived;

“I know you would think that which is why I didn’t ask them to look into anything other than your location and they found you here. Nothing else,” Lola said quickly, “I know that doesn’t necessarily forgive doing it but I swear I didn’t pay for anything else,” She smiled through her tears in hope, “I’d really like that, Logan. It doesn’t have to be like it was before. Actually, I think it could be better than before. You know, without… toxic influences?”

“I know-.. and I believe that they didn’t give you any other information other than my location. But that’s still-... if you were able to do it so easily, who’s to say they won’t be able to do it to find the both of us.” And he couldn’t face his parents, not after all this time, not after everything he had been through. “A clean slate with nothing but transparency from here on out, okay? I’ll be honest with you, if you’re honest with me.”

“I’m teasing bud– just teasing,” he chuckled with a little shake of his head before they finally made it to the kitchen. Max began pulling things out of the fridge to make a classic fry up for the other, always finding any excuse to bring out the British traditions. “Yeah. Both sides in different situations,” he admitted. “Neither side was much fun to be on. Why do you ask?”

“Don’t tease me when I’m inebriated, I can’t differentiate between sarcasm and seriousness.” Logan told the other as he lay his head on the cool marble of the island counter. “I think I’m in one of those situations and it sucks.” He grumbled, lifting his head up. “I’m in love with someone who I think doesn’t want to be with me in that way, he runs so hot and cold that I never know where I stand. I’ve tried to stay away but he keeps drawing me back in and I-... fuck... I’m going to end up getting my heart broken.”  

“New York Fashion Week? Vogue? You’ve got quite high hopes for us and our impromptu fashion statement, huh?” she arched a brow, clearly amused by his exaggeration. “Yep, that’d be him,” Alaska snorted lightly. Both in surprise but also after the man’s commentary. “While you may be onto something, wouldn’t an entire force of grumpy cops have the potential to be more intimidating to criminals?”

“We’re good looking people, we’ve got the faces to be able to pull off anything on the runway. That and we’d look smoking on the front cover of a magazine.” He commented, winking at the other as he did so. “He’s spoke about his cousin, Alaska- isn’t it? But I guess I never put two and two together. You’re a lot more fun than he his and I’m sure a lot of people tell him that. Probably winds him up.” Logan chuckled, shaking his head at the others words. “I don’t know, your cousin looks like the cat when he’s grumpy, I don’t think criminals would be too intimidated by cat faced cops.”

When the other disappeared into the bathroom, Aaron let out a slight sound of frustration. He could tell that the way he’d worded it didn’t impress Logan. It wasn’t as though he’d meant to hurt him but Aaron was just… well he was who he was and being adept at these kind of things wasn’t his forte. Making some hot drinks, Aaron changed into some sweatpants and a t-shirt before settling down on the couch, slight anxiety flooding through him as he ran a hand through his hair. When the blonde finally reappeared, he motioned to the seat next to him. “Come sit down.” Truth was Aaron wasn’t all that sure where to start all this but perhaps he could at least try. 

“Look, I wasn’t intentionally trying to deceive you, Logan. I just… don’t talk about my past with anyone. Not even my family really bring it up.” He spoke honestly. “And I didn’t think not mentioning my powers would be that much of a big deal given with powers come questions. Questions I’m not really ready to answer out loud.” Letting out a little sigh, he rubbed the bridge of his nose for a moment before returning his attention to Logan. “But I can answer some things if you have questions. The rest I suggest you look up yourself. You have access to the HQ files I’m sure. You could look me up if you want.” It was Aaron giving him permission to learn about him if he wanted. It wasn’t something he offered normally and another reason why he never told people who worked in the Institute.  “But yes, I was a hero. I guess I was good at it. I have the ability to heal… and resurrect.” He added the last bit more hesitantly but he felt that keeping that a secret now wouldn’t be wise. He’d find out sooner or later after all. “I think you’ve worked out by now that I’m not very good about talking about… well anything really. My feelings in particular. I never meant that to affect you but I should have realised. I’m sorry.”

Logan had let the warm water beat down on his back, calming himself down and trying his best to keep his emotions at bay and dissociate himself from the situation he was currently in, he could have a crisis once he was at home but right now he needed to not act any differently to what he normally would when with the other. After emerging from the bathroom he moved to sit next to the other, pushing his wet hair from his face. “It’s okay, Aaron. Like you said, it’s not people’s business and you can choose to share with me what you want to share.” He commented with a shrug. “And yes I have access to files at HQ but it doesn’t mean I’m going to go looking you up to find out about your past, I’d rather you tell me about it when you’re ready to. If you’re ever ready to. Same with you speaking about things, if you didn’t want me to follow up with questions, I wouldn’t. Simple as that.” He continued. “You should know by now that people prying into personal business is a pet peeve of mine.” Logan let out a small sigh and nodded, “I’ve noticed, but it’s okay. You don’t have to spill all your secrets to me, I just would like it if you were comfortable enough with me to talk about things if you ever wanted to.”

An eyebrow quirked when Logan cursed him out, popping what was left of the biscuit into his mouth to finish it before he answered the blonde, though he did send a non-committal shrug of his shoulders. “I don’t normally use them so there is no need to bring them up. It’s not really something I just shove into a random conversation. I don’t see why it’s anyone’s business.” Aaron explained as he looked at the man. “Left that life behind me a long time ago.” It wasn’t that he didn’t use them when necessary of course but it wasn’t as though he was a hero. “It didn’t really seem all that important where we are concerned. You’ve never needed me to help you and you just never asked.”

I don’t see why it’s anyone’s business, Logan wasn’t sure why those words made him flinch so much and yet he felt stung by them, did the other just really see him as anyone. A person he could fool around with, but would never truly open up to him the way he had to the other. “We don’t exactly just have random conversations though, do we.” He spoke, a defensive tone to his voice. “You were a hero, weren’t you? I had thought that maybe you were, things you’ve said or done, especially when at HQ.” He had started to put pieces together, but he could never get the whole picture until now. “Not important. Right. Of course.” That stung too, he felt a lump in the back of his throat, part of his brain telling him he should have just gone home earlier and he wouldn’t be in this position with the other yet again. “I asked about you having powers, you shrugged me off.” He stood and cleared his throat, grabbing the clothes the other had given him. “I think I’ll take that shower now.” He needed to get away from Aaron, even if it was just for ten minutes, he needed to compose himself before he made a fool out of himself.

Sharing his energy wasn’t something that Aaron often did, mainly because when he’d been a Hero, he’d needed it to perform his own tasks but it didn’t mean it wasn’t possible with his power. “Close your eyes.” He instructed in a straight forward manner. “And no, that’s not my way of telling you that you should sleep off the fatigue… not that it’s a bad idea.” 

When the other male followed his instructions, Aaron briefly let his fingers brush back a couple of strands of the others thick blonde hair off his face in an affectionate manner. Something about Logan made him unable to resist the small actions despite himself. One hand coming to cup his cheek, Aaron placed their other palms together. Focusing his power, he began to feel the build up of energy travelling through his body, working its way to where he needed it and transferring over through their joined limbs. It was less of a visual power like some but more a physical feeling as he felt the heat build in his palms accompanied by a tingling feeling. When he felt like the other man had enough to feel back to normal, he pulled back, stealing a biscuit himself, taking a bite as he stood up and tossed the clothes at Logan again. “So the shower?”

“Close my-.. I didn’t think it was you telling me to go to sleep, I thought it was some cheesy pick up line and I was going to question who I was talking to for a second.” Logan commented, yet he still did as the other said. He felt Aaron’s fingers in his hair and then a warm hand placed to his cheek along with a sturdy one against his hand. He wanted to open his eyes, to see what the other was doing, but he knew Aaron would only berate him for doing so and this seemed like a rather intimate moment to be too much of an ass. He felt a small tingle in his hand, his body started to feel revitalized as though someone was charging him up and giving him back the energy he had lost. When the other pulled back he opened his eyes and watched the other. “You son of a bitch.” Was the only thing that came out of his mouth, “You can’t just casually dismiss this like it’s nothing, you have abilities-... Why have you never told me before, or more so why didn’t you tell me what they were.” 

It took Max a moment to get out of bed and open the door, but once he did he looked at Logan groggily. “I’m a little weary opening this door to you because I have a strange feeling you’ve been body-snatched. The Logan I know would never want to talk about his feelings with me,” he couldn’t help but tease the other. Max took a moment to laugh at his own little joke before sighed, “Alright– let’s make you some greasy food and you can talk at me all you like. Sound good?”

“I’m drunk-” Logan stated, waving a hand over his face, “Surely that’s a big enough sign that things are going to be different.” He continued, he was hardly ever drunk, in fact he couldn’t even remember the last time he had been drunk. Normally he was the responsible, one or two drinks and then he was done for the night, this was out of the ordinary for him and he didn’t like it. “Sounds good.” He smiled, following to the other to the kitchen and taking a seat at the island as he watched the other start to cook. “Have you ever been stuck in an unrequited love situation?”

Aaron felt like a little bit of an ass when he saw the others face. He should have realised it would take effort to perform an action like that. He knew how it was for his own powers after all. Moving to the fridge, he poured out a glass of orange juice and grabbed a couple of biscuits that he kept for when Logan or his cousin were around bringing them over to the other man. “Get these down you. Should boost your glucose levels fast.” He stated in a matter of fact tone as he settled beside the other man on the sofa. “Anything else I can do to help?”

“Thanks.” Logan commented, taking the refreshments from the other and not hesitating to drain the glass before breaking off pieces of biscuit to eat. “Unless you want to give me some sort of magical energy boost, I’m not sure there is much you can do.” He chuckled, “I’m just not used to using my powers, takes a moment for me to configure my surroundings and regain my strength.”

“No. I didn’t, I swear,” Lola said, almost panicked. She worried that maybe if he thought she had known, he would be angry again. No more lying, “I only asked him to find out where you were. That’s all. I told him that’s all I wanted to know. Everything else I wanted to find out myself,” She shook her head quickly, “It’s not. I know it’s not and I don’t practice anymore. My whole belief system kinda came crashing down when I found out that our parents were close-minded assholes who would probably kick me out too if they actually knew anything about me,” She wasn’t one to curse but there were very few other words that could be used to describe how she felt about them and what they’d done. Still, she had faith in other things. Just not the religion she had been raised with. Perhaps she could go back to believing in something one day but not any time soon, “That’s why I changed my name - you can call me Lola or Leila by the way, whichever you prefer. All the IDs are fake though so there’s no paper trail to get to me and even if they did manage to or want to, I wouldn’t go anywhere near them again,” She looked down at her hands in her lap for a moment, chewing on her bottom lip. She didn’t want to start crying again but she felt it coming on, “Honestly Logan, you feel like the only real and honest person I ever had growing up and I’m so angry with myself for not just telling you who I was right away. I wasn’t real or honest with you and I don’t know if anything will ever make up for that but you have to know how really sorry I am. About everything. What I did, what mom and dad did, all of it.”

Logan looked to his sister, he wasn’t sure to believe her fully right now, but that was to be suspected. He had terrible trust issues due to the his past and the things he was put through, too many times he was promised something to only have it blow back up in his face, but the way she was looking right now. Almost on the verge of tears, something tugged in his chest to give her a break and to offer her an olive branch. “You don’t need to apologize for them, it wasn’t you who did that shit to me.” Logan commented having listened to everything she had to say. “I’m not happy that you had a private investigator follow me, it feels like you breached my privacy without me consenting to it. I’m also not happy that you’ve been lying to me for this long.” Logan spoke softly looking down to his hands, “But I’m willing to work through this, to-.. I don’t know, form some sort of relationship again.”

“You were worried about me.” He murmured, recalling that incident vividly. It’d been unexpected and he’d been annoyed that Logan would put his own life in danger like that but at the same time he’d been glad to see him. Even he wasn’t particularly keen on being stuck in a situation like that on his own. A chuckle left his lips at Logan’s words and he nodded his head. “I’m not going to hate you. Probably do me good to take a vacation.” Even if it wasn’t exactly planned. Falling silent, Aaron let Logan focus and before he knew it, they were back at his place, safe and sound. “Those powers would be handy to have.” He murmured, slowly pulling away from the blond to walk into the bedroom, pulling out two sets of clean, dry and warm clothes. “Do you want to use the shower first?” Aaron questioned, already beginning to divest of his wet attire.

“Yes, I was.” He wasn’t ashamed to admit that, he had been worried about the other stuck out in a snowstorm in a car, in the middle of no where. He had been irrational sure, but he got them both back to safety. As the other pulled away he wobbled on the spot, moving to sit on the couch and let himself recharge, the side effects of using a power you had let rest dormant for so long. That and transporting two people instead of one seemed to take it out of him. “Maybe you should first- I’m just a little.... out of it right now. Need to recharge.”

Aaron looked back when Logan touched his arm, raising an eyebrow in gentle question. He hadn’t been expecting Logan to offer to use his powers though. He knew that the other man wasn’t confident. Still, he moved back in close despite that, letting his own hands rest on the others waist. “You’ve gotten into a car with me before when I hadn’t been completely specific about the placement. I’m certain you are capable of getting us to my apartment. You know it well enough by now…” He muttered the end bit, though there was a slight smirk on his lips. “If you want to do it, you have my trust.”

“Yes, but you being stuck in the car was sort of an emergency. I guess I perform well under pressure.” He told the other, but Aaron was right, he knew the others apartment as well as his own given the amount of time he had spent there with the other. “Promise not to hate me if we end up in Europe or something?” Logan asked, taking the others hands and closing his eyes as he tried to concentrate. Visualizing the others apartment, his belongings, the smell and the warmth. He channeled his power whilst doing this and soon the smells and the warmth just weren’t memory, but reality, opening one eye he smiled upon seeing the familiar setting and happy to be out of the rain. 

There was a little relief in Aaron when he saw the expression on the others face change, as minute as it was. It was better than what had been there previously and he’d take it. “You ready to get even wetter?” He wasn’t entirely sure that was a possibly at this point though, the both of them making puddles where they stood. “You can borrow some of my clothes and I’ll throw yours in the dryer.” He suggested.

“Wait-” Logan commented, placing a hand on the others arm to steady himself. “I could try getting us to your place so we don’t have to go out in this again?” He suggested, he had been practicing more, short distances here and there but his control was growing and he had been celebrating the small victories. 

A slight huff appeared to leave the dark haired male at that. Not quite willing to admit he was wrong but not denying it either. Despite the fact Aaron was oblivious to certain things, he could tell that there was something off with the other man now and given it had immediately followed the fact he had mentioned wanting to change, he looked up at Logan, surveying him silently before speaking up. “Can do. Whose place is closer though?” He asked. “We didn’t really get to do what we were planning cause of the sudden change in weather. If you’re up for it, we could just turn it into a home thing instead once we have warmed up and changed. Order in?”

He knew the logical thing would be to say no, to turn the other down and make up some lie telling him he was tired or needed to head to work later for some unknown reason. But he couldn’t, because the part that wanted to be around and with the other outweighed the logical part of him. “Yours. Probably.” He eventually spoke, knowing that it was probably a fifty fifty on who’s was closer, but he knew that Max would probably be at home. A small smile made it’s way onto his lips and he nodded, “Sure, changing plans and ordering take out sounds good.”

“Don’t force me to take it back because I will.” Aaron threatened, attempting to dry off at least a little though he was failing rather miserably right now. “You never mentioned winning, you only asked if you should join a wet t-shirt competition. Stop being an ass.” The dark haired male appeared to grouse, walking past Logan. “I need to change.”

“Actually I said ‘Do you think I’d win’ and you answered with no, so I’m not being an ass. Just going off what you said.” Logan commented, pushing a hand through his hair as he watched the other. His stomach dropped and his chest clenched at the others hot and cold with him, he needed to stick to his promises to himself to stay away from the other less. He was going to get his feelings hurt and yet he always found himself gravitating to the taller male. “Yeah, probably for the best.” Logan commented, clearing his throat and gesturing to the opposite direction, “Maybe I should head home, do the same.” His mood had changed, he sounded dejected despite trying to hide it.

Tristan looked down at his hand, clicking his fingers to create a flame between them. He’d almost set a combat dummy in fire again and he was not in the best of moods. How was he meant to be a hero if he wasn’t making any progress? He could just about keep a flame going on his finger but if he tried anything else, he risked setting something around him on fire. Maybe he should have gone for Match rather than Flare for his name. He sighed and moved to stand up, almost immediately running into someone, “Oh shit sorry,” He extinguished the flame on his fingers, trying to smile, “Are you okay?”

“Fine, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve almost been singed.” Logan told the other, looking to the other with a look of concern, “I wanted to come and check up on you, see how you were doing?” He asked.

“I’ve done many things in my lifetime but nearly breaking someone’s nose has never been one of them. Until today I guess,” she rambled, looking horrified at what she had just done to the other. “Can I help? I can heal you,” Sadie offered in attempts to fix what she had messed up.

“Well you can cross this off your list of firsts.” He chuckled, though his words sound muffled, “I have to say though, you’ve got a pretty impressive right hook. I’m a combat trainer too, so at least you know that’s a genuine compliment.” At her offer to heal him he rose an eyebrow, “You have healing abilities?” 

“Hey, I’m not enabling anyone. If you don’t wanna be here, you can go. I’m a big girl, I can drink on my own,” Cassia replied, “I can hold my drink. Wait, are you not seeing straight?”

“I’m not saying I don’t want to be here, I’m just not used to drinking so much. Or at all.” He commented, blinking several times as he listened to the other. “It’s a little out of focus, but then again nothing about me is straight so I guess it’s fitting.”