Smut if I Can Talk Myself into It, But Who Knows
* * *
NOT A CHAPTER
Hey, guys. I know this probably isn’t the update you expected. I’m sorry. Unfortunately, I have bad news. Some big things have changed in my life, things I didn’t expect. It’s put me in a place where I have to make a choice about what kind of future I want to have. What’s expected of me. Who I need to become. How I can help those who need it most.
I won’t be updating the story for a while. Maybe a long while. I don’t see Extraordinaries the same way. They used to be these mythical beings, capable of feats that boggled the mind. But now I know they’re capable of hurting others. And that’s something I never expected. Something I never thought would be possible.
I know this doesn’t make much sense, and I apologize for that. This isn’t some kind of code for me saying I’m going to hurt myself, so please don’t think that. Far from it, in fact. I’m going do everything I can to make sure that those I love don’t get hurt ever again.
I am going to do something extraordinary.
Thank you for making me feel special.
I’ll talk to you soon.
ShadowStar744
* * *
He waited until he heard Mary Caplan go to bed. He pressed his ear against the bedroom door. It was quiet. He shouldered his backpack before opening the door slowly, peeking his head out into the darkened hallway. The house settled around him. No light came from underneath Cap and Mary’s bedroom door.
He wore only socks as he tiptoed down the hallway, carrying his shoes just to be safe. He managed to avoid the step that Mary said always squeaked. He pulled open the front door as quietly as he could, locking it behind him with the key Cap had given him. He dropped his Chucks to the ground, shoving his feet inside.
And then he disappeared into the night.
* * *
“What are you wearing?” Owen asked as he squinted at Nick when he approached. Owen was leaning against the doorway of a closed cell phone store.
Nick looked down. He had on black jeans and a black hoodie. The hood was pulled up over his head. “My breaking-and-entering costume.”
“Your shoes are purple.”
Nick frowned. “Yeah, Gibby brought these instead of my black ones. I didn’t have time to go back and get them. My bad. Do you think it’s going to give us away? I’m wearing black socks, so I can take them off if I need to.”
Owen sighed. “You look ridiculous.”
“Oh yeah? Well, you look … okay. You look like you always do. Why aren’t you wearing a costume?”
Owen grinned. “Don’t need one. Come on. Let’s get this over with.” He took Nick by the elbow and started tugging him down the block.
Burke Tower was lit up like a beacon in the night, propelling them forward.
* * *
“How’s your dad?” Owen asked as they approached the building.
“Fine,” Nick muttered, dodging a group of late-night tourists gazing up at the skyscrapers around them. “He’s going to wake up soon, and then he’ll get to go home.”
“Yeah? That’s good. Sorry I haven’t stopped by.”
“It doesn’t matter. The room’s not very big. Not anything you could have done.”
“Still. Hospitals creep me out. I was in them a lot as a kid, and I don’t ever go back to them if I don’t have to.”
Nick stopped walking.
Owen glanced back at him. “What?”
“I didn’t know you’d been in the hospital.”
Owen rolled his eyes. “Because I never told you. It’s not that big of a deal. You coming or what?”
Nick followed him. “Why did you have to go to the hospital?”
“Maybe it was because I was crazy,” Owen said, waggling his eyebrows. “Kept me wrapped up in a straitjacket and everything.”
Nick shoved him. “The only thing that’s ever been straight about you.”
Owen laughed. “Funny guy. I forget that sometimes. I don’t know why it surprises me.”
“Thanks? I think.”
“It wasn’t anything major,” Owen said, his breath clouding behind him in a warm stream. “Saw things that weren’t there.”
Nick blinked. “Like hallucinations?”
“Sort of. They thought there was something wrong with my eyes, at first. And then with my brain.”
“What was it?”
Owen looked up, the light from his father’s building covering his skin. “Never figured it out. I got on medication, and it went away.” He turned his head and winked at Nick. “I was one of the lucky ones, I guess.”
A memory rose through the storm in Nick’s head, bright