OTHER GRAPES BY HAND. The font was small because that was a lot of words.
Underneath, there were printouts of all the world’s greatest superheroes. Spider-Man. Superman. Batman. Wolverine. The Hulk. Wonder Woman. Shadow Star. Psylocke. Captain America. Midnighter. Batwoman. Flash. Rorschach. Northstar. Krypto, though he was a dog, and by that point, Nick had been printing off everything just because he could.
“What do all of these beings have in common?” Nick asked.
Seth waved a hand at the board. “Aside from Shadow Star, they’re all fictional?”
“What? No, that’s not—well, yeah, that’s true, but that’s not—ugh. Why do you have to be so literal all the time?”
“I’m literally telling you what I see.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “That’s because you have no imagination. You’re lucky you have me.”
“I know,” Seth said, and he was so earnest about it, Nick’s palms got a little sweaty. “But maybe tell me why.”
“Because I can see things that others can’t. Like big-picture stuff.” Nick looked at his creation. “It’s not only fictional characters, though. See?” He went to the board, pointing at different pictures he’d printed off. “Primate Girl. The American Patriot, though he was a dick. The White Rhino because that dude could destroy anything he charged at. Guardian, because they’re mysterious and cool. The Galavanter, though she was pretty much like a kid’s birthday party clown who could expel helium from her lungs, but who I am to judge?” He frowned. “Okay, maybe I went a little overboard with it. But you know that’s how my brain works. I can be a little crazy, sometimes.”
Seth scowled at him. “I don’t like it when you say that. You’re not crazy. You’re fine the way you are.”
His mom had told him the same thing. And now that she was gone, it was Seth who understood him more than anyone else in the world, had seen through the tornado of words that was Nick Bell, even when they were just kids. Yeah, other kids had given Nick crap for being all over the place, but Seth had been overweight and gotten it almost as bad. Nick was too young then to understand the idea of cruelty, but he knew people could be mean, even if they couldn’t really explain why they were doing so.
It’d gotten easier when Gibby came along. And the other kids had grown up too; what had once been bullying became indifference, and Nick and his friends essentially faded into the background. They still got shit every now and then, but if Nick had his way, they wouldn’t have to worry about anything like that again. No one would mess with them if he was an Extraordinary.
“Maybe that’s my superpower,” Nick said, trying to dispel the annoyance on Seth’s face. “Maybe because my brain is wired different, it’ll lead to ESP or the ability to explode things with my mind. I’m probably already at the next stage of human evolution, which means that I’m better than almost everyone else.”
The look on Seth’s face faded, though not as much as Nick would have liked. “You are better than everyone else.”
Nick’s hands were really clammy today. He wiped them on his jeans. “I’m glad you see that. It makes our friendship easier when you can recognize how awesome I am.”
Nick was almost proud of how quickly things became awkward. He didn’t think it’d ever happened this fast before.
He coughed and waved at the board. “So, ideas!”
Seth looked back at Nick’s creation. “You don’t have Pyro Storm up there.”
“Well, yeah. He’s not a hero. He’s a villain. I don’t want to become a villain. I don’t know how to laugh maniacally or do something nefarious. I’m far too pure. The only reason I have someone like the American Patriot up there is to remind me of how not to be.”
“But you always talk about how muscular Pyro Storm is.”
Nick was scandalized. “I do not.”
“Uh, you realize I beta read for you, right? You talk about his thighs all the time.”
“That’s because his costume accentuates his assets,” Nick said, moving until he stood next to Seth in front of the board. “But you can look nice and still be a douchebag. They’re not mutually exclusive.”
“Like Owen.”
“Exactly.”
“But you still—”
Nick slapped a hand over Seth’s mouth. “We shouldn’t talk about it if we don’t have to. Consider it a lapse in judgment that’ll never happen again.”
Seth arched an eyebrow at him.
And since Nick was fluent in Seth eyebrow-speak, he said, “I’m serious. Never again. I don’t care how good he looks