A Couple of Teenagers

In the interests of propriety in the communal atmosphere of the Baron's castle, Noelle found a bathing suit to borrow, and Streak grabbed his swim trunks from upstairs. Properly outfitted, they dove into the pool and enjoyed the water. Noelle and Streak's body temps and powers wrecked havoc with the pool's climate control, and they quit playing Marco Polo when they discovered it was too easy to track each other, even with their eyes closed, simply by finding the warmest or coldest spot in the water.

So, giving up on games, they just enjoyed the water, horsing around like a couple of teenagers, not the superpowered individuals who'd registered with City Hall. Their fingers were long since pruney by the time Silent Sammy padded over to the edge of the pool and peered in at them, thought "You’re not trout" at them, and wandered away again. Noelle laughed, and started coughing as she swallowed a bit of water, and stroked over to the edge of the pool to perch on the wall, dangling her legs still in the water. Streak swam over and tugged gently on her foot. "You ok?"

"Fine. Just took a little drink I didn't expect." She grinned down at the equally waterlogged Streak. "But I think I'm done for now. Gonna go sit back down in the sun. You coming?"

Streak nodded, and pulled himself up out of the pool, the water sluicing off him as he stood and shook his head, brushed his wet hair back away from his face, and held out a hand to Noelle to help her up. She stood, and held onto his hand for a moment, looking at him, then darted in close and kissed him quickly. Then again, a little less quickly.

Smiling, she pulled away, and walked back over to the deck chairs they'd sat in before, toweling off then unbraiding her long wet hair and combing it out to dry in the sun. Even with her eyes closed sitting on the lounge chair, she felt Streak as he came over and sat down next to her, and peeked to see him basking in the sunlight, recharging his solar batteries.

This was the way it should be, it ought to be. Everything else was just... extra. Unnecessary. Her and Streak – practically from the moment she'd left the Arctic Circle and come to Paragon City, certainly since she'd joined the Knights – this was what she wanted. She thought about her conversation with Hang Time, and knew she had to take his advice.

She turned her head and looked at Streak, lying in the sunshine, happy, and thought she knew what to say. "Hey, Glow Boy. I... I have to tell you something."

He opened his eyes and looked at her, squinting a little in the bright light, and was silent as he waited for her to continue.

She did, slowly, haltingly, "I think... what we have... I love it. I want it. And when you're not around... I miss you. Miss you so much it hurts, and I think stupid things, even when I know you're not around for all the right reasons."

She looked down at her hands, clutching at each other in her lap, made the effort to let go, and continued, "I want to be with you, and I want not to be alone, and they're practically the same thing in my head. In my heart. Wherever."

Streak said, "Frosty..." but she continued.

"And I think..." she looked up at him again, eyes bright, trying to smile, "I think I love you, Streak. And then I went and did something that doesn't entirely make sense, but I did it, and who knows? I might do it again, so I have to tell you, and then maybe we can figure out what to do next together."

Going on, filling the silence that followed her last statement, she said, "I kissed someone else."

And waited.

Teenaged boys are one of the most resilient creatures on the planet; a Super Powered one only more so. Their ability to resist or bounce back from injury is phenomenal, physical injury that is. While they may seem mature and strong at times, they are just one step removed from small children. There is a reason that Silver-Streak does not play poker.

"...you oh, well uh..." His powers began to manifest, his eyes were obscured as silver light began to flow around him. Noelle knew that his powers were linked to his adrenaline glands, when his emotions spiked, so did his powers. Then he went dark, the light absorbed back into his body completely.

"This because I'm leaving Paragon City, isn't it?" He said, his voice teetering on the edge of emotionless expression.

This was hard. This was way harder than she thought it would be. She wanted to grab Streak, to wrap her arms around him and take back what she'd just said, what had just hurt him.

But she couldn't. Just as she couldn't take back the fact of what she'd done. It had to be discussed. And what Streak had just revealed - yeah, that had to be talked about, too.

"You're leaving? I... I didn't know."

Tears threatened to spill from her ice blue eyes, and she suddenly felt very cold. "So, no, it has nothing to do with that. It just... Kinda happened, I guess. It doesn't change how I feel about you. Does it..."

She stopped herself as her voice broke, took a breath, and tried again. "Do you hate me?"

He didn't know what to say, he'd spoken and now the pretty girl was crying. He'd hurt her, but she'd hurt him. That wasn't how it happened, he had meant to tell her, but then she caught him off guard. This isn't fair, stupid girl why are you crying? You're the one who kissed him, why are you crying?

"I'm going to leave the City, and the safety of the Castle. The Baron thinks that it would be good of me to see the world. I've never been out on my own, and he thinks it would be a good idea for me..." Silver-Streak paused, his voice cracking slightly.

"Why did you kiss him? is he nicer then me?"

Noelle made a little noise -- somewhere between a sob and a laugh and a hiccup -- and shook her head. "No, Streak. It's not a matter of nicer or not. You're... different. You're both very different. And god only knows if this would have ever even happened in the first place if..."

She broke off, and took a breath, trying to compose herself, trying to find the right words to say. Noelle didn't want to blame him. There was no way this was his fault. But at the same time -- how had she put it to Jason when she asked him for his advice? She felt like she was 18, and on the shelf. And even if she loved Streak, and wanted to maybe spend the rest of her life with him... how did she know if she didn't see what else was out there?

But she didn't say that. She couldn't.

"...But you're going. You're... leaving. And, I don't know. Maybe I saw this coming and just already missed you."

Noelle reached for his hand, which she'd held so often in friendship, and comfort, and passion... and hoped he wouldn't pull away.

Silver-Streaks left eyebrow arched and his eyes flashed with light.
"Already missed me? Already missed me, so you kissed a guy? Can I ask how the hell missing Me made you want to kiss someone other then me? That doesn't make sense to me, at all."

"Yeah, I'm leaving to go see the world. I'm going to go and not be a super powered kid. I want to have a life, I want to walk into Dunkin Donuts and Not be "Silver-Streak". I want to see what it's like to not be treated differently because I can shoot lasers out of my hands. I want to know what it's like to be normal again. I guess that being normal means that girls do stupid things, and then attempt to rationalize them so that they don't feel guilty about what they did!"

He didn't take Noelle's hand.