Chapter 12: E. Feather and Dustin and Sarah

I slink into the break room, exhausted. “Adira, power down.” My suit disappears in an instant, replaced by my casual clothes in that same moment. My casual clothes today are a summer dress with a jacket over top.

“Yo, Feather.” I look up, seeing Ballast smiling at me. I smile at her, waving gently. I plop down on the couch next to her. I soften the cushions, sinking into the softened material happily. “Long shift?” She asks me, lowering the volume on the television.

“Always.” I sigh, sinking into the cushion more. “Good shift though. Someone actually told me that they look up to me.” I smile brightly, remembering the moment. “I didn’t really know how to respond though.”

“Hey, congrats.” She says, holding her fist up for me to bump. I do so. “Makes sense, you’re definitely climbing up there in popularity.” She looks up thoughtfully. “Not many heroes around with two powers, and you took out Everyman. Not to mention how many people are strangely into the 'redeemed villain' thing." She shrugs, "also, you're good at what you do."

I smile at her, blushing a little. "Thanks, Vi."

Violet, or Ballast, was the Warden who took the revelation of my deception the best. If anything, her opinion of me increased when she found out. Where the other wardens showed hesitance at my admittance, Violet had gone out of her way to make nice with me. Patrols with her are among the best, behind only patrols with Dustin or Sarah.

Me and Violet end up chilling until she's called away for paperwork, and then it's just me. My mind drifts to the other Wardens.

Reflex and I get along in a business capacity, but that's about it. That's how we got along before too, so not much has changed there.

Sensate's opinion of me got worse when everything came out, but I get the feeling it had more to do with me being trans than any of the villain stuff. We keep our distance when we patrol together, which is easy since he can fly. I get the feeling he's not very likable despite any of his thoughts about me. That's just what I've picked up from the civilians when we patrol together, though.

Tempo is a little trickier.

I hear the door open behind me, and turn around to see who it is. Well, speak of the devil. Lily freezes as she sees me, looking conflicted. I sigh slightly at that, shooting her a weak smile before turning back to the television.

Surprisingly, she enters anyway. She sits down on the couch, on the opposite side from me. I wordlessly extend my power over, softening her seat. She looks at me in surprise. "Oh, um, thank you."

I smile at her, "of course."

We settle into an awkward silence after a moment. I don't know what to say. I've already apologized countless times, so, I don't know what else there is for me to do.

Her voice is quiet, "I'm sorry, Feather." I turn at that, shocked out of my thoughts.

"I- what?" I ask, surprised. "Sorry for what?"

"For how weird I've been making things between us." She shifts in her seat uncomfortably. "I haven't really been treating you fairly."

I look at her incredulously. "Lily, you don't have anything to apologize for. It's my fault for everything that happened. I don't really blame you for not wanting anything to do with me after that." I wince at that. 'Even if it stings a little,' I add mentally. 

"No, it's not because of that." She sighs. "I mean… It's a little bit because of that, but…" She bites her lip gently, looking at me seriously, "and you have to promise not to tell Burnout."

I raise my eyebrow at that. It's about Dustin? I cross my heart. "Promise."

She sighs, sinking further into the couch. "I was jealous because I had a crush on him. And at first it was because of everything else, but… Not anymore. I've just been too scared to talk to you about it because I'm an idiot…" I blink at that. Ah. That explains it then.

I chuckle at that, scooting closer to her on the couch. I hold out my fist. "Apology accepted. No hard feelings?"

She smiles gratefully, bumping her own fist against mine. "No hard feelings."

The door behind us opens once more. I turn to see who it is. It’s him, Dustin. I skip to my feet, getting up to greet him. I cross the floor quickly, pecking him on the cheek. "Hey babe." I grin at him widely.

He responds with a quick peck on the lips, hands somewhere around my midsection. He'd have to crouch a bit to comfortably lay them on my hips. "Hey yourself." He says. He pulls away slightly, waving to Lily. "Hey, Lily." She waves back shyly.

He sits between me and Lily on the couch. I soften the couch for all three of us, leaning against him slightly.

That's another positive change in the last couple of months. Getting to be more mushy and romantic with Dustin.

"So, your quote unquote 'house arrest' ends soon." Dustin says, doing air quotes around 'house arrest'.

I nod happily. "Excited to be able to finally go outside for a reason that isn't patrolling." I sigh, sinking closer into the couch. "Getting some serious cabin fever." I admit bitterly.

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He nods in agreement, all too aware as to how the isolation has been treating me. "Do you want to do something to celebrate? We could set up an actual date."

I smile wide at that, my ears perking up. I sit up, nodding aggressively. "That sounds great. Mom set up a mother daughter day for the two of us." I smile wide, "I finally have my appointment for hormones then." I tell him.

"Hey, congrats!" He says. I nuzzle in closer to his side.

"Congratulations," Lily says. I smile at her earnestly. It feels good to be on her good side again. I can tell that our relationship still isn't quite mended entirely, but it's getting there. 

"So it can't be that day, but the next one we have off after that." I say, sighing exasperatedly. "I can't believe Sarah got off house arrest before I did."

Dustin rolls his eyes, looking at me pointedly. "She didn't betray the heroes while also posing as one secretly." He pokes me in the side gently. "You're lucky they didn't give you worse."

"I was barely even an actual Villain!" I defend. 

"You robbed several banks!" He exclaims, "Sure, you didn't rob much, but you did."

I wave my hand, "they were insured, that's not really that bad." He only shakes his head in response. I switch the subject, "Anyways, what were you thinking, date wise?"

"Dinner and a movie?" He grins. "It's been a while since we did that."

I smile, but before I can respond, the door opens yet again. Sarah enters, loudly announcing her presence. "Hey, is there a party in here? Without moi?" She fakes shock and offense. Despite that, she comes around the couch and despite there not being any room, splays herself across my and Dustin's lap. "What did I miss?" She asks casually.

"We were planning date ideas for when I get off house arrest." I giggle, I run my fingers through her tail idly.

"Oh, eww, mushy stuff." Sarah says, sticking out her tongue and making a face. "Where are we going, then?" She continues.

I laugh at that, bopping her on the nose. "You don't have to come if you don't want to, you know," I say, teasingly.

"Of course I want to come! You're my favorite mushy thing." She grins widely and I giggle. "You know cause your power-"

"I think we got it, Sarah," Dustin groans. She sticks her tongue out at him and he sticks his tongue out in response.

"Behave you two," I laugh out loud, bopping them both lightly on the head.

Lily gets up, stretching. "I, uh, think I'm gonna go chill out in my room a bit." She says. I wave good-bye and she smiles gently at the lot of us. She leaves, the door closing behind her.

I give Sarah's tail a light kiss, still stroking my fingers through it. "I love you both, you know.”

Sarah grins at me, flicking her tail up to hit me in the face. "Yeah, we know." Dustin nods, kissing one of my ears.

As luck would have it, It turns out that Sarah is Asexual, but not Aromantic. I'm glad to have her as a part of our little triad, and I can tell that despite his initial hesitancy towards it, Dustin is quickly warming up to her as well.

It's funny how much reading you can do when you're cooped up inside for months at a time. Some time after Dustin and I officially hooked up, I had heard about Polyamory. Several serious conversations between myself, Dustin, and Sarah, eventually led to this arrangement we're at now.

Aside from the polyamory, I feel way more informed about so many things I was ignorant to before. Like, the fact that I'm trans. There's a label for people who feel like I do. It feels good to have a community. I’ve been learning a lot about myself recently now that I’ve expanded my knowledge on those things. There's also the fact that I can go and get hormones. I’ve been excited for those since the moment I heard about them.

Dustin isn't ready for the public to know about our collectively unconventional relationship, but around the forums and servers I've been frequenting in my free time, I've heard rumors that are awfully close to the truth already. He's resigned to it coming out sooner rather than later, especially with my house arrest ending soon. I'm a Tinker, my family ends up in the media a lot whether we like it or not.

For once, I'll happily show off to the media. Let them know about my partners. Let them know exactly how trans I am. I'm proud of it.

Like I said, no more lying to people. This is the real me. This is Feather Tinker.

---FIN---

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