The Sky's Still Fire

[everambient]

Characters: ALEX & OPEN
Date&Time: July 21/night
Setting: out back
Summary: star trekkin' across the universe gazing.
Rating: BOOBIES, BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE IF YOU CALL NOW...
Status: Open

Comments

[staticsnap]

An abashed look spread across Ben's face and he quickly dropped his torch-wielding arm. Too quickly, actually: the metal cylinder thwacked against one scrawny hip and, because he was completely lacking even a hint of coordination, sailed out of his hand. The boy dove forward with a lurching urgency because oh God, it was going to land right on Alex's face and then he wouldn't just be blind he'd be concussed and that? That was generally frowned upon in civil situations.

By some miracle, Ben managed not to step on Alex as he fumbled for the flashlight, juggling the stubborn tool awkwardly as he tried to get a solid hold on it. "Sorry, just - ah!"

Jesus, that bulb was bright. Ben blinked and instinctively jerked away as the tumbling flashlight cunningly shot him in the eyes like the fiend it was. He lifted his hands to cover his eyes in defense, once again losing hold of the wily thing and it fell with a smug sort of bastard glee onto his foot. His bare foot.

The boy folded with a hissed curse and dropped his ass to the grass beside Alex, reaching out to rub his throbbing toes.

At least the impact had knocked the light out, leaving them both with the gentle blanket of night again. And Alex hadn't gotten kicked in the kerfuffle. Any small victory was a very large win in the game of fates.

[everambient]

Alex did his best not to laugh, but he couldn't help but smile as he watched. "Your codename should be Grace, man," he teased, glancing at Ben once the flashlight was out and his eyes had adjusted in the darkness.

Eventually, he laid back again and turned his gaze towards the stars once more. "We have to quit meeting like this, Ben," he joked. "People go crazy after so long of going without sleep--it's a scientific fact." He was smiling though, glad for the company. It was funny how he hadn't been able to handle being around people at first after months in solitary, and now he almost needed it.

[staticsnap]

"That's a girl's name," Ben protested as he flexed his foot. Nothing felt broken which added another tally to his scoresheet.

With disaster averted (for now) the boy turned his attention to Alex, leaning back to rest on his elbows and look up to see what it was that his friend was looking at. The stars were a sight better wonder to focus on than the fact that he had a real, live friend and how new-shoe-weird that particular feat felt.

At the mention of sleep, Ben merely shrugged. "We're young, we've got untapped reserves. Isn't this what we're supposed to be doing, anyway, sneaking out and living dangerously? S'what James Dean did."

[everambient]

He laughed and nodded as if to say 'yeah, that's part of the joke.' "Grace suits you," Alex teased.

Scoffing when the kid brought up James Dean, he looked back up at the sky. "Yeah, and look how that turned out for him," Alex pointed out, glancing at Ben. "I swear to god the only reason I know anything about him is because my foster sister was creepily obsessed," he added.

[staticsnap]

Okay, so maybe that had been a bad example but if one excused the fact that James Dean was dead (if one could excuse something like that), then the point still stood. They were men in their prime, young bucks standing at the edge of the field of life just waiting to bound across and chase after opportunity with strong and sturdy feet. Hoofs. Whatever. Life was their oyster, they were rebels without a cause, they were...

Ben's train of thought eased to a slow halt as a star shot across the night sky, trailing an ancient sense of mysticism and wonder behind itself.

"James Dean was cool. Your foster sister is clearly cool," Ben retorted. He narrowly avoided tacking on a you're cool because that would just make things awkward, even if it was true. Instead, he pointed to a mess of glittering stars. "Hey, over there. That sort of looks like a warrior hummingbird, if you squint. Or possibly a squid." He frowned. "Are either of those a constellation?"

[everambient]

"She was," he agreed, thinking back on his foster sister. Unlike his foster parents she had accepted him for who he was. Alex realized in that moment that he missed her just as much as he missed Scott, and he found himself wondering what either of them would think about his powers. She had actually been there when it happened, but Scott...Jesus, how was he ever going to explain to his older brother that he absorbed space power and destroyed things with it?

Turning his gaze towards where Ben was pointing, he laughed. "Oh I'm sure the ancient Greeks totally saw warrior hummingbirds," he replied jokingly. Pausing for a moment, he realized Ben was right though, that it looked like a hummingbird. "That bastard even has a shield," Alex commented in awe.

[staticsnap]

"Maybe it's a mutant hummingbird," Ben supplied. He wasn't sure what he meant, whether it was the fact that the celestial avian was a strong-willed fighter that identified it with the lot of them or the fact that it needed that strength because of what it was, as surely as lungs needed air. Let Alex interpret it as he would.

They'd skirted across a subject and Ben circled back to it now, fixed his gaze distantly high as he said, "They gave me a social worker. M'in the system now, I guess."

Like you were. It felt strange to say aloud, awkward and almost untruthful because it went against the grain of the way things had always been. For a moment, a stabbing spike of guilt lanced through Ben's stomach as his thoughts sailed across the hundreds of miles to a small room he'd never been in, where everything that he had left lay wasting away. Uncle Peter wouldn't even know how wholly everything was unravelling, would he?

[everambient]

Alex's expression turned very serious very quickly, and he actually sat up, looking at Ben. It was the worst possible news that the kid could give him, and he felt his heart sink in despair, even if he didn't know Ben all that well yet. Alex Summers already felt overly protective of the other boy, and he wondered now if this was what it was like to be the older brother.

"What about the Professor?" he asked, trying to keep his tone casual. "Can't he adopt you? Or, I mean, this is a school. You should be able to stay here. Hell, if they think I'm old enough to send me to the moon the government should even let me adopt you if worse comes to worse, but Ben, you can't trust the system."

[staticsnap]

Even though his chest was suddenly tight like there were steel bands crushing small and vital parts of him, Ben's gaze never shifted. He stared at the sky as though it would crumble to crystalline pieces if he looked away.

"My uncle's not dead," Ben said, voice sharper than he'd intended. "He's just... this is just for now. When he wakes up it won't matter what the state says."

Or the Professor, or Mr. Lehnsherr, or even Alex. Because then his future would slot neatly back into the proper hands where it belonged.

He hadn't expected reassurance from Alex, not about this - how could he, when the man's own experience had been as it was? But some small part of Ben had hoped that maybe it wasn't as bad as he thought and that he'd misinterpreted the meeting, read too much into the subtle undercurrent that had towed the entire affair.

As best he could from his prone position, Ben shrugged. There was a strange tightness in his windpipe, like choking. "Anyway, for now the Professor can," he searched his memory for what the social worker had said, "petition for temporary guardianship, or something. I forget, exactly. But it takes time. Paperwork."

A long pause and then: "They said maybe it'd be better if... an institution. Someplace with therapists. That it'd be a better fit."

[everambient]

"No!" Alex snapped, turning his gaze away from Ben now. "No," he added quieter, trying to calm himself down, because the thought of anyone going to an institution like he had... It was a chapter in his life that he had tried to forget, somewhere between his parents' death and his foster parents adopting him.

"You're staying here," he added, with a surety in his tone that almost made even him believe it. Alex decided right then and there that he was going to do anything he had to, to make sure Ben could stay at the school.

[staticsnap]

Alex's sudden vehemence was surprising, the swiftness of it startling Ben so that he looked uncertainly at the other mutant's profile certain that he'd said the wrong thing again and offended the man. But no, he wasn't even looking at him, or anything really. Rather, Alex's eyes were focused elsewhere entirely, a faraway intensity to them that Ben could see even in the dim light cast by the heavens.

Why did he care so much? Ben was nothing to him, so why was there such a deep note of personal responsibility resonating in Havok's voice? It was like the whole word was suspended there, held fast by his will. Ben tried and failed not to feel as though everything was going to be alright; it shouldn't have been such an easy comfort, just because Alex said so.

"Well, I don't think Mr. Lehnsherr much liked the idea, either," Ben said finally. His lips quirked, halfway to a smile, and then he let loose a breath and squinted thoughtfully. "But maybe it wouldn't be so bad. If I had to, I mean. If it was just for a little while. Don't get me wrong, it's not where I want to be but..." the boy trailed off and shook his head. "Maybe it'd be easier, if it comes down to that."

[everambient]

He turned his head to look at Ben finally. "No, Ben," Alex told him. "It wouldn't be better. For one thing, they're not trained to deal with mutants. Our powers are simply another reason for us to be considered 'crazy' and they don't listen to kids, they never listen to you unless you're an adult. They'll lock you away in a room and feed you pills and try to keep you quiet, but they never really help you, and when they pretend to actually care it's so fake that you just want to reach out and smack them with the clipboard they're holding because no matter how much they say they do, they will never understand."

[staticsnap]

Ben hesitated. They were at a dangerous junction where personal experience had so seeped into the earth that one careless step would trigger a landslide.

Aware that he'd been socked for persuing lesser matters, Ben balled up his couage and banked on the fact that Alex was, if not in complete control of his powers, remarkably composed in temper. He very probably would not punch him.

"When were you...?" Ben nodded his head to one side, as if motioning at some invisible facility.

[everambient]

He hesitated to actually explain at first, but finally did. "When I was a kid, I was convinced it was a spaceship that crashed into my father's plane," Alex told him quietly. "Because, you know, that's completely possible," he commented, rolling his eyes. "I was stupid, young, and scared. I didn't know what I was saying."

[staticsnap]

There was a very long silence with nothing but the chorus of summer bugs pressing in from all around. What were you supposed to say to something like that? Ben wasn't very good on picking up on subtle humour but there was definitely nothing false about what Alex was saying.

"A spaceship crashed in New Mexico on my birthdate the year before I was born," Ben offered, finally. "Allegedly, at least. Lots... lots of people saw it. Not crazy people, either. Not all of them."

[everambient]

He laughed it off. "Don't be silly, Ben, I was just a kid," he reminded the other mutant. "It was my way of coping with a really horrible experience, and eventually I learned that and worked through it on my own--without their help." Still, it haunted him in his dreams some nights.