Chapter 246: Chapter Two Hundred Forty Seven

I stepped out of Callie's room the next day around eleven in the  morning and was immediately assailed by the sound of clapping. I rolled  my eyes as I turned to glare at Benny. "Can you keep it down please?  It's early." I was blushing a bit, which he knew, because he was my best  friend and he knew how to get a rise out of me. Making a big show of my  first time was one such way, and I absolutely did NOT want to give him  the satisfaction of letting him know it was working.

He  leered at me anyway. "What's wrong. The blushing virgin can't bear to  face the consequences of his carnal shame?" I grimaced. Benny always got  extra wordy when he was smug. Which he wasn't for much longer because  Jessie reached out and smacked him upside the head.

He  yelped and shot her a betrayed look, only to get an eye roll. "My gods,  are you five? 'oooh, Shane likes a giiiiirl, girls are gross'. Stop  being a dick or I'm going to tell Celine about your apparent distaste  for people hooking up out of wedlock." Benny's face drained of blood and  his mouth snapped shut, which was a hilarious sight. I shot Jessie a  thumbs up and she returned it with a wink.

The door behind  me opened and my previously sleeping girlfriend came our wearing one of  my shirts, which kind of looked like a dress on her four foot ten  frame. "What's going on here?" She demanded imperiously. She put an arm  around my waist, pulling me against her. "You giving my man a hard time  Benicio?" Jessie made an 'ooooh' sound as Benny recoiled from someone  using his full name.

I rolled my eyes at my friends'  antics. And Cark just sat to one side and snickered. Right up until cas  looked at Callie and cocked her head. "How come Callie is wearing your  clothes? Did you guys have a sleepover? That's her room though?  Shouldn't she have clothes in there?" We all froze like statues, looking  down at the small girl who gazed up at us with innocent confusion.

Zeke,  who was seated off to one side eating cereal, snorted the milk out of  his nose as he tried to choke down his snickers. Cark glared at my  uncle, who didn't seem to actually care but at least had the good grace  to pretend to be cowed. He raked us all with his glare and we just kind  of stood there, waiting to see what he did. He shot Cass a wide,  strained smile. "Well I think today is Callie's laundry day. She must  have spilled something on her last outfit so Shane lent her his shirt.  That's why he was in her room."

I shot him a thumbs up for  quick thinking as Callie started nodding frantically. "Yeah, that's  right! I'm super lazy about doing my laundry. I'm just lucky Shane has  such big shirts, or I'd have to hide in my room all day while I washed  my clothes." She gave me a squeeze. "He's such a good friend." I was  having trouble not bursting out laughing, but Cark's face promised  murder if we didn't stick the landing on this so I just nodded along  amiably.

Cass gave an 'oooh' of understanding, and the  realization dawning on her face was so perfect that I would have assumed  she was fucking with us if she hadn't been mortal and in a room full of  people with Perception in the hundreds. If Cass was trolling us, she  was so good at it that the rest of the universe should be quaking in  fear because this girl was going to be the most terrifying spy who ever  lived.

I cleared my throat. "Anyway, I feel like making  breakfast. How does everyone feel about french toast? If enough people  want some I'll even throw in some bacon." Cass was distracted from her  line of questioning by the promise of sweet breakfast foods, as I've  found most people to be, and cheered in excitement, requesting powdered  sugar on her toast, a request I obviously already planned to fulfill.

I  headed for the stove as Callie dipped back into her room to put on  pants and conveniently avoid the death glares from the only person in  the house who could literally light us both on fire with his mind. When  she came back though, she grabbed Jessie and dragged her off for a  conversation I very deliberately avoided listening in on. Benny came  over to lean against the counter next to me. "You know, as much as I  like to give you shit, I just wanted you to know. I'm happy for you. Not  just last night, but just...in general. She's good for you. I've never  seen you as alive as you are around her."

"Well....thanks."  I said awkwardly. "I mean, yeah. She makes me happy. Just being around  her is like being on an adventure. Even when we're just sitting around  and doing nothing. We're just so in sync with each other, and  it's...nice. Having someone who understands me and who makes me so  excited to start my day." I cut my eyes at him, narrowing them in  annoyance. "And what the fuck do you mean alive? You saying I was dead  before?"

He snorted. "Only socially, you shut in. I just  mean that you seem to have an excitement you didn't before. A sense of  anticipation. It's nice to see you getting so worked up over things. I  love you like family man, but you were so damn passive before you got  your powers. Things happened TO you. She's made you more assertive.  Bolder. You happen to things. It's cool. I always knew you had that in  you. Seeing it is nice."

I gave him a smile, but inside my  heart clenched. I knew what he meant, and I wasn't totally sure it had  much to do with Callie. I had a feeling it was more recursion than  relationship, but I didn't want to say that out loud. I was pretty sure I  had a handle on it, and I didn't want to ruin a nice moment with my  best friend over nothing. "So, how have things been with Celine? Are you  two actually officially dating yet?"

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Despite my tone  being neutral and interested he scowled at me. "Don't you dare become on  of those guys who gets all preachy about relationships because yours is  going well. Yes, we're dating. Sort of. Elves are weirdly formal about  this stuff. She's accepted my intentions, but I'm supposed to write to  her mom and make an official request to court her. I did, and I haven't  heard back, but Cel says that elves don't tend to rush in matters of  politics. Which this apparently is despite me not being politically  motivated in the least. Fucking nobles man."

Wincing, I  clapped on the shoulder in commiseration. In a way I was lucky Callie  and I bonded over having shitty absentee dads. Meant I had one less  parent to meet. Her mom also sounded really sweet, so I wasn't as  worried about that as I could be, and that was without the whole "giving  her superpowers" thing. I gave his shoulder a squeeze and got back to  cooking. "So have you talked to Maria lately? I haven't heard from her,  but I've been busy as hell. I really need to make time."

He  sighed, letting his head drop back against the wall. "Yeah, she's been  chafing at being stuck back home. She and Zach broke up, so that's good.  Apparently she's been carrying a torch for Jessie, and they talk when  possible, though that hasn't been as much as either of them likes. She  did mention you not calling, and says if you don't get around to it soon  she's going to come down here and break the water heater. See how you  like taking your showers cold."

I flinched back in disgust  at the heresy he'd just spouted. "Cold? She...she would make shower in  the cold? That's sick. Your sister needs help Benny. What kind of  deviant would interfere with a mans shower time? I've never had anyone  threaten to do anything as heinous as that to me. If she gets abilities  she'd better be watched. She clearly has a twisted and ruthless mind  that the rest of us can only dread."

Benny rolled his  eyes. Hard. "Shane, a group of fanatical sleeper assassins literally  threatened to murder you. I can't describe to you how stupid it is that  the idea of cold showers scares you so much. Hell, knowing you, cold  isn't even the worst. Lukewarm is probably your nightmare." I nodded,  shuddering. He was right. Showers should be so hot they almost hurt,  lukewarm showers were even worse than cold ones. At least with cold  there was health benefits. A lukewarm shower was just a heartless taunt  to the person taking it.

"You know, It's nice to see."  Said Benny. "As much as you've changed since meeting Callie and getting  your ability, plenty of parts of you are still the same old weirdo I  made friends with when we were kids. I'm glad you've grown into yourself  a bit, but I'm also glad you're still you. Oh speaking of growing, any  chance I can come watch your training today? Jessie said you guys are  basically just being beaten mercilessly for hours and that makes me  smile."

I groaned. "You were doing so well there for a  second. But fine, I guess you can tag along. It's not like we'll be any  more injured with you watching, plus I can be happy knowing you couldn't  possibly do any better. Maybe I can even talk Abel into giving you  some...'lessons' of your own." I gave him a vicious grin and it was his  turn to shudder.

"No thanks." He said forcefully. "I might  do some work with Alden today, but I've seen Abel fight. Some things  just aren't worth the price of admission. I'd love to be an invincible  badass, but there are limits to what I'll do to get there." He smirked  at me. "Besides, you nerds might need your big muscles and combat  ability, but brilliant Inventing geniuses like myself know that  knowledge is power. Also trial and error. Trial and error is power too."  Hearing my childhood friend sound like a proper mad scientist made me  want to laugh, and I turned to focus on the french toast so he wouldn't  see that his stupid humor was getting a rise out of me.

I  settled back into cooking. Last night had been...crazy. I felt so damn  serene it was absurd, and I was honestly a little worried I'd lose my  edge against Abel, or I would be if I didn't feel like Callie and I were  more in sync than ever. Still, it was like this constant knot of fear  and worry had just...melted away. It would be back I was sure, but for  now it was just nice not to feel like I had literal months of stress  piling onto me, and I hadn't even really noticed it was happening until  it was gone.

I  whisked some cinnamon and sugar into the eggs that I dipped the toast  in, along with a bit of cream, and pulled the bacon from the pan, using  the leftover grease to keep it from sticking. For the moment, I was  happy, relaxed, and looking forward to the future in a way that was  altogether different from how I had been for a while. Callie came back  in with Jessie, both of them chuckling about something I had no desire  to learn about, and shot me a soft smile when she saw me.

Once  I finished cooking we all sat down and ate together, and Cass told us  about the most recent episode of one of her cartoons as we all made  fascinated noises and smiled at each other about how cute the kid was.  Finally though, our family breakfast was over, and it was time to get  back to work. I donned my costume and we headed down to G-district to  meet up with Abel at the Pavilion. Unlike yesterday though, I was  looking forward to my training. It was going to be a good day.

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