8/8 Instance: Those Three Words

[puppygirl]

Timeline - About midway through the crazy-time

Darren blinked at himself in the mirror in the bathroom, he reflection for once behaving itself and acting just like a normal reflection. McCoy had sorted him out with some contact lenses which mean that while he looked less like a dweeb on steriods, his eyes were red like he'd been crying ... were contacts meant to be this uncomfortable?

Sighing he threw his towel over his shoulder, his I.D. tags clicking softly on his bare chest as he walked back into his and Jay's room and pulled his loaned laptop back across his desk, settling down to try and get some work done.

Selene gently knocked on the door to Jay and Darren's room, but didn't wait for a response before she opened it and poked her head inside. The grin she wore on her face took a slight turn towards the disappointed. "Too bad," she said, looking at her boyfriend. "I had hoped to catch you two doing something more interesting."

Darren didn't hear the knock, so when he heard the door open and Selene's voice he jumped slightly in his seat, "Fuck! You scared me there!" Spook poked his head out from under the dresser at the sound of her voice and lopped over to the door, sitting up on his hind legs at her feet.

"See, you're going off me huh Spooks?" he smirked slightly, getting up, "Sel ... you okay?"

"Why shouldn't I be?" Selene bent down and calmly picked up Spook, cradling the bunny in the crook of her arm while she gently petted it with her other hand. "Between the two of us, it should be you who had a reason not to feel okay." She made her way across the room. "So, how are you doing?"

"You're the one who's been ..." he waved a hand, "out there, how're the tomatoes doing anyway?" He stood infront of her a little awkwardly, going to wipe an eye and then wincing, "I've ... well, I've been worse I guess ..." Which wasn't really a lie, he'd been a zombie after all, that had been way worse.

"The tomatoes have been pacified for now," Selene informed him, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "Even though I really wouldn't consider eating them any more. They might sue you if you try." She gave him a slights smile. "Oh, things can always get worse, believe me. Your eyes look a little unhealthy, though."

"My ey-oh yeah," Darren resisted the urge to rub them, "Yeah ... umm ... I've got some contacts now, they're still kinda sore ..."

"Ah, I see," Selene said, cocking her head. "Never had to use those. But maybe you should try using glasses. I'm sure you'd look... interesting." Her smile turned slightly mischievous. "There are some rather intriguing designs out there, did you know?"

"Jay got me some, I looked like a idiot," Darren grumbled, shifting his weight from one foot to the other awkwardly. He had no fucking idea what to do or say to her now .... 'Hi, what do you think of my new look, you still want to be with me even though I'm not special anymore?' nope, that would make him look an even bigger jerk then he actually was.

"I'm ... i'm glad your safe thought, was getting worried after your phone stopped working ..."

"It was a bit tricky to dial with it after the buttons started biting my fingers, so I had to trap the phone in my bag," Selene said, a wry expression on her face. "I just hope that I don't have to charge and feed it now."

"Well, you probably won't need glasses, anyway," she continued. "This entire pandemonium of craziness will most likely return to normal before we could have some fitted for you."

"Yeah? Jay said it wasn't as extreme as it was when Kevin first ..." Darre gave another wave of his hand before turning back to his now used bed and sitting down, "I haven't really been out much ... not really safe when you don't have any weapons," he sighed again, tossing his fringe back from where it fell ito his eyes.

"I really hope that when all this insanity wears off we all get turned back to normal ..."

Selene turned her head to glance out of the window. "At the moment, there's no reason to rule out anything," she said. "From what I've seen out there, pretty much anything is possible right now. But the weirdness definitely isn't as aggressive anymore as it used to be. I'd say reality is starting to get fed up with this shenanigans."

"Yeah? Well I just hope that it gets sick of us being wrong as well," Darren sighed again, "Look ... sorry i'm not ... i'm not great at the moment babe ..."

"Oh, and you're convinced of your greatness at any other time then," Selene asked, a slight smirk playing around her lips. "Don't think I'm just here to poke your bunny. I also came because I thought you might need some distraction and company."

"My bunny doesn't even recognise me anymore," Darren said giving the fuzz-ball in Selene's arms a look, "look, smell, sound different, he's still waiting for his owner to come home," Darren scrubbed a hand through his hair, "It's just ... all the stuff that humans do without thinking ... it's been so long that i've forgotten how to do most of them."

"I mean ... I though I'd just pulled a muscle in my stomach till I nearly passed out the other day, turns out I needed to eat something ... and then what comes after that ... oh man, it's disgusting!"

"You might hate me for it, but the whole situation isn't without humor," Selene said, giving a light chuckle. "I can't imagine the change you've gone through and how difficult it has to be to adapt, but I believe we can be glad you were merely turned into someone normal. I'd be pretty upset if my boyfriend were a deck chair."

Darren allowed himself some self pity internally, At least I wouldn't know if I was a deck chair, before replying, "Yeah ... guess you've got a point," he conceeded.

"Besides, being made of flesh and blood isn't as terrible, either," Selene continued. "And while I still might have the one or other trick that sets me apart from everyone else on the planet, the basics of my daily life aren't as different as I sometimes pretend. So I'm quite familiar with all the little details that seem so pesky to you at the moment."

"You can still bring tables to life ..." Darren said, casting a glance to his laptop, his powers had been such a big part of him, who he was ... now without them he just felt ... incomplete.

"Why yes, I could," Selene admitted, as she carefully put the bunny down on the bed. "However, is that really what makes me special? Or would that be my rather unique and sometimes quirky outlook?"

"Would you have that unique and quirky outlook if you didn't have your powers though?" Darren asked, watching Spook skip about the room.

"Maybe yes, maybe no," Selene replied, giving a slight shrug. "How could I tell for certain? What I know for sure, however, is that I try to foster my quirkiness, because I feel it adds to my uniqueness." She bit her own lip as she glanced back at Darren. "I have to admit, the thought of being bland would terrify me."

"You think I'm bland now as well huh?" Darren said, not meeting her eyes.

"No, but I might start you're a worse emo than this Kevin kid if you don't stop the self-pity, Selene replied, giving Darren a look. "Sure, if it makes you feel better, you can sit here to moan and wail about what was done to you a while longer. Or you could listen to me and discover a much more effective approach - the way of searing hatred."

"Believe me, there aren't many emotions as motivating as hatred," Selene explained, accentuating her words with a firm nod. "Especially if you know who's responsible for your current situation. Instead of moping around, you should focus your efforts on figuring out how to make them pay."

"Pay? How?" Darren shrugged, "I've lost my ability to hack and he's pretty much disarmed me, I mean ... what would you suggest? I'm ... powerless against someone like him now."

"It's not like anyone fared better against him even before half of the school lost their powers," Selene replied. "You act as if you've suddenly become worthless."

"But I am ... compared to everyone else, when I wasn't melting faces I was being the techie, and I can't do either now," he pointed at the computer, "case in point, I did something and got an error message and I didn't know what the fuck it meant, it's like when I lost my powers I lost my memories again ..."

"I ... I'm not a fucking genius anymore ..." he confessed.

"Just like almost everyone else," Selene said, a quiet sigh coming over her lips. "I have no doubt that losing something you took for granted can be quite devastating. On top of that, I'm terrible at cheering anyone up. All I can say is that the reason I like you never were your abilities or what you could do." She tried to smile. "Will you believe me when I say my feelings haven't changed?"

Darren stopped for a moment, then looked back up at her, a hopeful look on his eyes, "... Really? Even though I'm ... well ... completely different?"

"Don't make me smack you," Selene warned, her eyes narrowing. "Do you think I care for such superficialities? Flashy powers aren't different from a shiny sports car. Do you think I'd fall for a guy simply because of his preferred method of transportation?"

Darren flushed slightly at that, "Um ... y-yeah I know that I was just ... you know, I look totally different now?"

Selene tilted her head to the side and gave Darren an appraising look. "Yes, I noticed," she said. "Though, considering I sometimes asked you to shift shapes for my amusement, I don't think I'll have any problem with that."

"Really? And ... if it turns out I'll be stuck like this forever?" Darren asked bashfully.

"Well, I guess in that case, you'll either have to arrange yourself with your new situation - a rather boring option, if you ask me - or we'll have to think of increasingly outlandish and bold methods to improve your condition." Selene reached for Darren's hand. "In the meantime, I'll try anything I can think of to make sure you get your powers back."

A small smile appeared on her face. "The question is, will you continue to relish your self-pity and leave all the work to me, or will you put your brand new flesh, blood, and bone to good use and help me?"

So much had happened over the last few days, that it just slipped out without him even realising what he'd said. He'd just looked up at her, smiled and said, "I love you Selene ..."

Then when he realised the words had slipped from his lips his face coloured and he looked away.

Selene's gaze remained fixed on Darren while her mind struggled to get out of its temporary shutdown, all in all giving a wonderful impression of a fuzzy little animal, stunned for the last couple of moments before getting hit by a giant truck. She opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

Why was it that she had always considered mere words to be no reason to get sentimental, but when finally confronted with them she had to struggle to produce a somewhat dignified tone. "And I love you," she promptly said, without even thinking, and swallowed hard afterwards.

Darren's blush deepened and he glanced at her, face still red, he was sure that there was something profoud and romantic he was meant to say here ... but what actually came out of his mouth was, "Umm ... well, this is awkward huh?"

Selene straightened her back and bit down on her lip, keeping her eyes on the bunny - who seemed to be quite happy to simply clean his ears. She cleared her throat and folded her hands in order to stop them from fidgeting. "I believe it's supposed to be that way," she said. "Well, at least we lived through the experience now, didn't we?"

"In ... indeed we did," Darren coughed and cleared his throat, managing to get his blush under control, "... Sooo ... what happens now?"

"I'd advice against more talking," Selene replied and nodded. She glanced back up at Darren's face, wearing an awkward expression. "Words aren't our strength right now, I guess."

"Then what would yo-oh," realisation dawned, "Umm ..." and back to awkward!

Selene simply nodded again, keeping her gaze fixed on Darren. "Yes, I think that would be a definite option," she said a few moment later. "We could simply sit here for a while longer and try to get the bunny accustomed to you, or we could find out what a kiss with a pair of proper lips feels like."

"... I'm thinking maybe we should start small," Darren said shyly, "Umm ... I mean, guess I do have a lot of new things to discover now huh?"

"Indeed," Selene replied. " I'd say you could regard that as a definite positive side to all those unfortunate events that happened during the last couple of days."

Darren's smile grew a little firmer, "You can be a ray of sunshine sometimes huh babe? Don't worry, I won't tell anyone."

"Good," Selene said, giving Darren an exaggerated look. "I'd be forced to claim that the warp accidentally moved your head away from the shoulders if you'd let anyone know"

Darren smirked, "Not a word."

"Good," Selene replied, a smirk appearing on her features. She carefully sidled closer to Darren and leaned in to press a cautious kiss to his lips.

Darren hessitated for a moment and then very gently started to kiss her back, it was ... different, in some strange way, despite the fact that he'd lost so many senses it felt ... better.

"See, at least you didn't get a heart-attack," Selene said, leaning back just a little. She smiled at Darren. "How bad was it?"

Darren blinked at her, then licked his lower lip and smiled, "That's ... that was ... good."

"So, apparently being soft and squishy isn't all that awful, is it," Selene asked, leaning closer again to let her body brush against Darren's.

"I ... I guess not," Darren said after a moment, "it's got it's good points ..." the feel of her brushing against her bare chest was ... it felt so good.

"Oh, definitely," Selene confirmed, putting her arms around Darren. "And that was far from one of the best points. You've still much of exploration to do."

Darren put his arms around Selene's waist and leaned in to kiss her again, "Well ... exploring sounds good."

[Esynthia]

d'awwww and

yes. stop emoing, Darren. But Sel... Don't give him ideas about hating the person responsible... Rogue would cry