Tides

“Speak for yourself.” Pietro mused with a wry chuckle–for once–things seemed to be moving quickly to him. It was a change of pace, but not a particularly welcome one.  “Well, after everything that’s gone down–everyone’s due for a break, right?” He pointed out, smile wavering somewhat at her question.

“Pet, you know better than most that breaks don’t just happen in this city. But I’ll take what I can get.” It gave her time to think on a lot of things, at least, even if they weren’t necessarily pleasant.

“Sorry,” Tandy held her hands up in a sign of surrender. “Didn’t mean to surprise you.” She returned the smile, snorting and nodding. “You’d think. I mean, when you don’t want Starbucks, they’re everywhere. But when you do, it’s like they all disappeared.” 

“Right?” Even if a Starbucks existed on every corner, there was one in particular that held her attention. Something about it made her like that one out of all of them. 

“Yeah, of course.” She went back to nurse her drink, her eyes drifting to study the decor in Lumen’s home. It was so beautiful, so homey. It was what Lu deserved and this Michael guy sounded like he was the right match for her friend. When Lumen finally spoke, Jubilee placed her drink on the coffee table with a smirk of her own. “I can’t say no to what sounds like a mini adventure.” It seemed strangely familiar as if she had been doing wine on the weekends with Lumen for years. As if this house was a place she had visited often. She snapped out of her thoughts and then let out a small laugh. “I think the most comical part of all this is that while we’re in shock over what seems to be going on, we’re not entirely surprised either. Just another day in our lives huh, Lu?” Jubilee stood up and took a deep breath. 

“Where we’re from, there’s always something going on,” she said with a chuckle. Jubilee wasn’t wrong, though. Sometimes it felt like a lot to keep up with or deal with, but in the end, it would just be another day. There would always be tomorrow. 

“Are there? I never really noticed.” He shuffled on his feet, tossing the backpack over his shoulder as he looked Lumen over. Pietro couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen the blonde—months, maybe more. The trip to the future had been a blur to him–several memories–or future memories, were still missing. Did he even see her during that time?

Where was the bouncy jokester? The one who ran circles around everything and everyone with a laugh? Grey eyes narrowed briefly as she wondered, studying him. Something had happened in the winding length of time since they’d last seen each other. 

“I could look it up for you,” Lorna suggested reaching for her own phone. “If you want.” She gave a polite smile before continuing. “And yeah, yeah, everything’s been good. What about you?”

Lu gave a short chuckle, and nodded. “The help would be good, even just pointing in a general direction would be fine.” 

They were leaning against a brick wall, texting a friend they met in a study group last year about upcoming classes. Their responses given half the effort they usually would, despite wanting to get back into a routine. Their mind wouldn’t let that happen. The brick was familiar, at least, since this was where they had bloodied up their knuckles a few months ago. 

“Huh?” She jerked slightly to face the voice, raising an eyebrow briefly before offering a small smile. “You’d think it’d be easy to find a Starbucks or something, y’know?” 

Lorna found humor in Lumen’s words, breaking out into a smile before turning to look over at her, taking in her expression before deciding to help. “Happens to the best of us. Where exactly are you heading?” Lorna still needed help getting around the city at times and she had to admit it was strange getting used to one environment only to go back to another. It wasn’t new and yet it felt a bit like it.

“Mee Noodle Shop.. Phone keeled over after I left the house and I forgot what intersection it’s at. You been all right?” She felt a little silly for not recognizing her friend’s green hair, but appreciated the offer of help. 

“She’s a total nerd, isn’t she?” It was cute, how Nadia and Eva ‘got’ each other on that kind of level, though it prompted a certain wondering of the workings of things with her spouse. “I.. got to use it.. a couple of times, ‘cause I wasn’t there very long, but yeah. What’re they calling it now, if not the DR?”

“My nerd,” Nadia agreed affectionately. “I’m not positive what it’s officially called, but I keep hearing it referred to by less dangerous-sounding names like ‘the training facility’, and ‘VR room’. Even when all the students were mutants, ‘Danger Room’ was pretty dramatic, I suppose, but now with baseline students attending, too, and the school being more publicized, it makes sense. I’m pretty sure some of the otherwise non-physical classes utilize it as well now. Imagine learning anatomy by being inside a simulation of the human body, or doing a scavenger hunt in a virtual reality Paris for French homework.”

“VR room, huh?” Accurate name, though in a different sense. “I mean, it was designed to simulate danger for us to prepare ourselves. But I guess if we’re dealing with the standard run-of-the-mill human family..” Everyday people could be heroes too. 

[Text] Is Eva okay? I can't seem to reach her phone. Are you Okay?

Pietro was lost in his own thoughts, head down, backpack still slung over his shoulder. It was all SHIELD let him have when he left. So far, undercover work just felt like a lot of slinking around. Then again, Pietro wasn’t sure what else to expect. But seeing the familiar city around him put him at ease-even if only slightly. His thoughts proved to be a distraction, Pietro feeling his shoulder collide with another pedestrian on the sidewalk–knocking the backpack to the ground. 

It was still weird, seeing people in the “right” decade, without the aged features, voices, and mannerisms. She remembered not having even met with Pietro during the bizarre month in the future of sorts, but there had been pictures. Everyone had become obsessed with pictures for some reason. “Uh-”

Despite not know Matt at all...yet, Jubilee felt an overwhelming feeling of guilt for hiding whatever this was to him. Was she ready to tell him that she was involved in this world? This was someone who seemed more than ready to spend the rest of his life with her. It wasn’t like she had the best of luck with relationships nor did she really keep steady ones in her present. There was work and taking care of everything else going on. There was the revelation she had made to Alana, the line she had taken on at J. Crew, the decision to not confront Michaud, her own independent line. There were people that came in and out of her life. There was rarely stability in her romantic relationships and while that wasn’t ideal, she knew that perhaps waiting it out and letting things “fall into place” would probably be best. Being on her own romantically for a while was something she was ready to embark on and yet here she was. Granted, this current timeline was years away from her past. Still, she was having trouble separating the two. Especially when she was in love with her son. She hated hiding anything from anyone in the past. she couldn’t imagine how difficult this was for her present self. 

“We tend to end up that way, Jubs, closer than we think, I mean.” It drew up a vague memory of Xavier’s and how their spats seemed to draw them more together than apart. They could take each other’s shit, and it always felt like there was some sort of respect in that. 

“Yeah, we can.” She wondered why she hadn’t thought about googling herself. Perhaps she was just too caught up in everything she was discovering. But thank God for the clarity Lumen was helping her acquire. 

Secrets, questions.. Lu was missing some important piece of information, and it seemed she wasn’t the only one. Whoever this Matt person was, the one who knew Jubilee intimately, didn’t even seem to know what the extra phones were for.