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?"

Despite my tone being neutral and interested he scowled at me. "Don't you dare become one 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 me 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.