Someday Maybe

A/N: I liked this chapter a lot. It's a lot of dialogue and not a lot happens but you get to learn lots of cool stuff. Also, it was not only easy to write but fairly long and I'm now only 274 words behind. I feel like my job interview went well today. I felt like telling you that. If it makes the joke in the last chapter any funnier I'll tell you that a fathom is a unit of measure in the imperical system that measures six feet of depth or line length. Ergo if you have an armspan six feet long it would make things "easy to fathom." I will make some attempt to re-write that part to make it funnier for the non-coasties. In the meantime you can congratulate yourself for having learned something cool today. I challenge you to use my joke and get someone to laugh.
I got no reviews between last night and now but my friends who read the last chapter enjoyed it so I hope you did too and I apologize again for having it be "broken" all night.



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Aiden acted his usual self the next few days, grating and obnoxious but also eager to go on the next mission, no doubt wanting to taste the rush of adrenaline once more. But Ty’s next instructions weren’t for a mission. He was to find out about Aiden and his powers before they could proceed with plans and let Aiden take a more active role in missions. Ty wasn’t sure he was in a position to ask and get straight answers but he figured he may as well try it. After all, he was the person Aiden was most familiar with and he wouldn’t be likely to open up to anyone he knew even less well.

Aiden put a hand up in the air and waited. Ty’s book smacked into it a minute later and he caught it deftly and put it down. “Yeah, yeah. Nag. I’ll go make dinner now. Geeze, you’re worse than a woman.” The younger man grumbled, saving his video game and getting up to make dinner as promised. Ty unfolded himself from his seat as well and walked into the kitchen. He hopped up on the counter to sit and watch Aiden cook. It was always interesting to watch him. Especially if he sat very still and quiet and let Aiden forget he was there. Unfortunately today that was not an option since it seemed an opportune time to ask him about his powers.

“How does that work?” He asked casually. He hoped that by staying as casual and interested as opposed to interrogative he might be able to get answers without scaring Aiden off.

“Hmm?” Aiden murmured distractedly in response as he was pondering whether he wanted to use one bowl or another for some part of whatever he was cooking. It was a mystery to Ty.

“You had your hand up before I threw my book at you. How did you know?” He asked. Aiden shrugged a little and picked the larger bowl as better suited to whatever criteria he had in his head.

“I saw it.” It was a simple enough response and obviously answered Aiden’s question but wasn’t exactly what he wanted to know.

“Was it just like you got this flash of me throwing my book at you so you knew to put your hand up and intercept it?” Aiden chewed on the corner of his lip as he considered the spice rack, a brand new addition in Ty’s kitchen and filled with a variety of spices who’s names Ty couldn’t remember as Aiden was responsible for buying them. He might have complained about how expensive they were except that he could appreciate how they made the food taste. Well enough worth it even if sometimes the flavor combinations were less than traditional.

He glanced over at Ty. “Yeah. It’s like that a lot.” He agreed. “A good description anyway. I get little flashes of things that will-” He hesitated. “Things that might happen, I guess. But reacting to them makes them happen a lot. I waited and expected you to throw the book at me and you did. If I’d anticipated what you’d wanted and gotten up to make dinner instead you wouldn’t have thrown the book and the vision wouldn’t have come true.”

“So you don’t get visions like posers on the television?” Aiden shivered a little at the question and ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the back of his neck where goosebumps had raised. Ty knew it wasn’t really cold enough to make him shiver but had to wonder what it was about his question made him so uneasy.

“Fucking posers make having visions seem like a fucking cake walk. Act all like they can see the vision and the real world at the same time like it’s a veil or a television. Act like they know exactly what the fuck is going on, too. Of course they know what’s going on, they’re making it up! Having visions is like having seizures. No uncontrollable movements and biting out your tongue and hitting your head on the floor but it’s not easy or nice, either.” Aiden waved utensils around as he got worked up over fake psychics on television and though it was only a wooden spoon Ty still eyed the aggravated motion warily.

“What are they like?” Ty asked. Aiden shuddered again and plunged the spoon into the bowl and stirred vigorously. It seemed like he wasn’t going to answer for a while but he sighed and then drew a deep breath as he sometimes did while collecting his thoughts, something that only happened sometimes merely because he did not often collect his thoughts before speaking.

“It’s like... they’re happening. They have all five sensations but at the same time I can’t interact with them at all. They play out however no matter what I do. I usually realize they’re not really happening because I’ve experienced enough to know what they are. But the helpless... panicked feeling before I figure it out-” He shuddered all over again. “It’s terrible.” He shook his head. “I try not to have them. I know I can... invite them if I want to. But I haven’t been motivated enough to need to. So I try to keep them out. The more I keep them out the more my powers leak through as short-term flashes. But if I-” He frowned, confused about how to explain it.

“Those are both involuntary for the most part unless I’m trying to have a vision. If I... I don’t know. If I were going to think about something. Some action I made in relation to you. If I thought about... I dunno. If I thought about actually having sex with you instead of dicking around about it, pun intended, and then I thought about how that would affect your life next week or a month from now or a year from now. I would... I don’t know. Comprehend. A week from now you might be feeling guilty about it. A month from now you might be in love. A year from now you might be heartbroken. But I wouldn’t just see those things. The future five minutes from now is fairly solid. A week from now is more like.. pudding. A month is jello-like. Three months is liquid. A year is like mist. That nice word you like amorphous and further is.... I dunno. In space molecules of stuff are really far apart, right? So like space, I guess. The vibrations- reverberations can go in any old direction they might like. Making dinner right now might just fucking cause the world to end in a hundred years, you know? Chaos theory. You never know.”

But still, Ty could tell he didn’t really mean that and he could almost sense that Aiden was going to go on so he remained quiet. “Except.” Yes, there it was. “If I think about something too much- try to see more about it so I can I dunno, change it a little or stop it... It doesn’t always work that way. You ever read Dune? You must have read Dune, you’ve read every other goddamn book in the world.” He went on without actually receiving confirmation although Ty had, in fact, read the first eight Dune novels. He’d stopped after the last because he didn’t like how the author’s son and that other guy had continued them. “Paul Atreides, he doesn’t want the- how do you pronounce that word? Fucking ge-had? He doesn’t want the jihad to happen in his name so he keeps looking into the future to try to prevent it. But the more you look the more details you obtain and the less escapable it becomes like.... the key to changing the future is in leaving the details as foggy as possible to give you room to maneuver in.”

“But, I dunno. It doesn’t work the way his does. I can’t just think, I wonder how I can prevent the jihad. I have to think about stuff in relation to particular people. I usually think about things in relation to me because that’s all I care about but it works with other people but... I don’t know. I have to be more specific? Does that make sense? If it was someone I didn’t even know I’d have to learn a lot about them before it would even work. I tried... the future of objects a few times.” He shuddered some more. “It’s too.... too alien. Objects have no right to have futures and human minds have no right trying to comprehend what it’s like to... be an object. It’s too other.”

Aiden raised his hand and scratched the side of his head idly. “It was kind of nice to tell you that.” He said finally. “In case I do have a vision around you. You wont think I’m dead or something. And I dunno. I guess it’s kind of useful if you’re getting into fights. Or trying to avoid them. Or sneaking around places and trying to avoid guards or something. Maybe... I should think about it more. Think outside the box kind of deal. It could be more useful than I’d imagined.” He looked thoughtful for all of five seconds before he turned to look at Ty. “Tell me how yours works.”

“Like a radio that picks up every frequency within range.” Ty said immediately. He’d described what it was like to people before. “I can tune the radio to one station, listen to one person’s thoughts exclusively and that doesn’t make the other station’s broadcast go away it just make that one person’s thought so loud I can hardly hear anything else. Or I can try to focus on something else and ignore the radio altogether and that works for the most part.” He considered what else to say. “It feels like radar sometimes because thoughts only travel so far. I have to be physically near someone to psychically pick up on their thoughts. It helps if I can see them, though. If I were looking out a window, the several stories down would be father away than I could usually hear someone but since I can see them I can think about hearing their thoughts and hear them. If I know someone is nearby it’s easier to pick up on them than if someone unknown is in the same range but I’m not aware of them. But they have to be pretty far away then, still.”

Aiden continued his cooking as Ty talked so the blond watched him with interest, wondering how it was so easy to work his magic and turn ordinary ingredients into delicious food. “It’s not just thoughts I can pick up, though those are easiest of course. Or not... Not the thoughts the way people think of thoughts. There are unconscious thoughts as well. I can dig through all of them and no one will ever know. I can change... or delete memories. And I can take away the precious connections that let you control your body. I can even destroy things like the unconscious demands your body makes for your heart to beat. It’s a thought so I can see it, control it, change it.”

Aiden chewed on his lower lip a bit as he thought about that. “That seems way useful. You wouldn’t have to fight anyone ever. Just immobilize them. Or if you were tied up by captors you could make one of them untie you. Way cool.” He approved. Ty swung his feet a little as he sat on the counter and continued to watch Aiden cook in silence. He felt strangely happy but felt a little confused when he tried to pinpoint the reason. Why was he happy, anyway?

He felt a strange sensation when it occurred to him that he felt like they were friends. Friends. It felt warm and fuzzy. Aiden was his friend. His friend. They were friends. He repeated the phrases different ways in his mind, cherishing the way they sounded. He still founded Aiden annoying and crass and unrefined but he could also be interesting and funny and a lot more intellectual than he let on and for some reason Aiden liked him. Someday he would have to ask what made him like him that way he might be able to repeat the process and gain another friend. But one friend was nice for now.

And then he felt suddenly nervous. He’d never really had a friend before. He’d had allies. Acquaintances. People with whom he was mutually apathetic about their existence. People he hated. People who hated him. Maybe Aiden didn’t actually like him. How did he know that he did? After all it was not like he could read his mind. Well... didn’t unintentionally and didn’t intend to. And how was he supposed to recognize the signs of someone liking him anyway when it had never happened before?

“Can I ask you something?” Ty asked. Aiden just gave him a look like ‘what do you have to be an idiot and ask me if you can ask me a question for anyway?’ “Are we-” He hesitated. “Would you say-” Another look at Ty’s lack of articulation. “Do you like me?” He settled for finally since it seemed more awkward to ask if they were friends.

“Sure.” Aiden responded easily. Whatever it was he was making, and Ty really still wasn’t totally sure, was in the oven now and he’d finished setting the timer so Aiden moved to lean against the island counter opposite him. “You’re pretty hot for a fag.” He elaborated and Ty couldn’t keep from frowning even though he suspected Aiden wasn’t intentionally being mean. Aiden grinned. “Idiot.” He said warmly, still grinning. “You’re- you know, you’re weird and bossy and annoying but you- you’re like me. And you know some interesting stuff. Sometimes you even have the capacity to be funny. I dunno. I just like you.” He shrugged at the end but then seemed compelled to continue in the way that he often obnoxiously ended his speeches. “And I wouldn’t call you hot all the time or suggest we have sex if I wasn’t attracted to you. And since you’re a guy that kind of makes me a fag, too. Feel better?”

“So we are friends?” Ty asked cautiously, feeling mildly embarrassed at how comfortable the younger male seemed to be with the whole situation. Aiden smiled lazily and rather lopsided the way his expressions usually ended up.

“I’d like to be more than friends.” He said suggestively but didn’t take any action to go with it and make the sentence more serious. Ty concluded he could safely interpret that as "yes" and a joke. He smiled.



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A/N: I realized the spellchecker on Firefox and the one in my writing application do not always agree. Before you exit this page consider taking fifteen seconds to click the review button type "nice" and hit review again.