Time Warp: Last Mile Home (Felix)

[Deleted]

Backdated 2006, day after Milan's graduation

Graduation. Four years. Four long years had been spent at Hammel for Milan to reach this day. When he first came to the Institute, the young boy had felt so lost and lonely. As time progressed, it became worse. He quite probably shouldn’t have expected any less; bullies happened to roam every corner of the earth. A school for meta-humans clearly was no exception. Of course it didn’t help his self-esteem any at that point, nor did it get him any friends. The latter was pretty much his own fault though. Whenever someone would approach him, the boy tried to maintain an emotional distance. Not because he did not want any friends – he wished to have those – but because the last thing he wanted was for them to end up being bullied as well through association with him. All it had taken was one person to break through those defenses, and Milan was going over to the guy now.

Since graduation had taken place the day earlier, Milan’s parents had come over. He had gone for dinner with them the night before, and had finished packing his stuff only an hour or two ago. His plan was to head home again, but of course that meant that appropriate farewells were in place. So, with a box of pizza balancing on one palm while a plastic bag filled with more food dangled on those fingers, his other arm had a bigger carton box pressed into his side. Like that, which took quite some focus and balancing, he managed to make it to the door of Felix’s dorm.

Knocking it felt like more of a struggle, but eventually he managed and took a small step back, ready to try and lift the items up a bit the second Felix would open up. He wanted to create the ‘look what I brought!’ effect, but only time would point out if that was going to be a success.

[Felix Arnaud]

Felix nearly fell of his bed as the knock caught him by surprise. He had been laying down with a book open on his chest for reading, and he managed to catch it as he sat up, placing it on the nightstand next to his head. Who would be knocking on his door at this time? He didn't know that many people, and he figured that most of the ones he did would either be enjoying the onset of the summer break or spending time with their families. Unless...

One of the nice things about the institute was that the rooms were fairly small, and while his trainers may not have approved, the teen preferred to keep his physical eyes either closed or unfocused, relying heavily on his locational senses. It was for this reason that, as he got to the door, his hunch about the identity of the visitor was confirmed before he even put his hand on the knob. A grin came over his face, and he opened the door wide, managing to direct his face more or less in the direction of his friend's.

"Hey, Milan! You keep trying to hold all that, and you'll end up feeding the floor, I bet." Felix stepped backwards, giving the older boy room to enter. "Come in and put some of that down!" He bent down, trying to clear some of the detritus from the floor and surfaces; one of the advantages of his power was that organization was less important to his ability to find things, especially in such a small space, but that also meant that his organizational skills were rather poor; papers and clothing lay over most of the room, even as he did his best to throw them all in a pile.

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The second Felix opened the door and addressed his friend, a smirk appeared on Milan’s lips. “Thank you, Captain Obvious.” He wanted to sarcastically thank him for taking one of the bags (which the younger student clearly didn’t), but the eighteen year-old feared that it might come across as a tad bit rude. Instead he smoothed past Felix and over to the table in the common room, managing to place everything down one by one. Either his friend’s roomies weren’t around, or they were staying in their separate bedrooms.

“So,” the young man began. “I reasoned: fast food contributed to our first meeting,” Given it had caused the shadow traveler’s weight. “-so what better way to end our time together at Hammel?” His parents had given him some money, and Milan liked to think he had made good use of it: several fast food options. “I didn’t know what you might have wanted though, so I got a small pizza, some Chinese food and some French fries.”

Milan had yet to tell Felix that he planned on heading home again. His plans after graduation had always been kept vague, mainly because the guy never knew what he wanted, but up until now staying in Pilot Ridge had always been an option – an option that had gotten eliminated. He felt bad about leaving his friend, even though he was positive Felix would manage.

“Unless you have other plans?” A grin once more curled his lips.

[Felix Arnaud]

“I didn’t know what you might have wanted though, so I got a small pizza,
some Chinese food and some French fries.”

Felix held a hand to his stomach, which had begun rumbling as he took in the scent of the weapons of mass artery destruction now sitting in front of him. He was quickly becoming aware of the fact that he had not eaten for several hours. In fact, he wasn't one-hundred percent sure that he had eaten today, aside from munching on the chips that were the entirety of the food kept in his dorm room.

"Gotta admit," the younger boy said, "I have a hard time findin' a fault with that plan. Whatcha want to drink?" He popped into his own room, raiding the small fridge. He grabbed himself a water, attempting to at least acknowledge the gods of proper nutrition, and a drink for Milan before popping back out and plopping down on one of the chairs.

"Unless you have other plans?"

Felix actually laughed out loud at that one. "Oh yeah, I'm extremely busy tonight. I had two college interviews and three dates scheduled for tonight, but I suppose I can pass 'em up to chow down with a friend. Gotta have priorities, after all." He reached out and opened the flat box, scooping up a piece of pizza for himself. He paused before he took a bite, though; Milan's words ("what better way to end our time together at Hammel?") hadn't escaped him, and he wasn't sure it was just a word choice. The older boy had been fairly secretive about his post-graduation plans, and though the brunet had always secretly hoped his friend would stay around, he knew there was a chance that his hopes would be crushed. But he could hold off asking, at least for a little while.

"Ya know, I never did say it, so congrats on graduatin'." The young meta bit off a piece of the pizza and oh man it really has been a while since I ate, and added "And, ya know, not falling asleep during the ceremony."

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Milan opted for some water as well, simply because soft drinks were not that tasteful anymore after having stopped drinking them for so long. By the time his friend returned with the bottles, he had taken the food out of the bags and had found some cutlery in a nearby drawer. The carton box had been taken off of the table, being ignored for now. Food was more important at this point, and Felix seemed to agree.

“Extremely busy? Usually you have at least four dates scheduled.” The graduate joked back while following his friend’s example by taking a slice of pizza before closing the box again. It was joined in by a small smirk when he made the remark about graduation. “Thanks. My parents wouldn’t have let me live it down if I had fallen asleep. And I had to give a good example for you in a couple of years.” With that, he took a bite from the slice in his head and sat down on one of the chairs. A napkin was taken from next to the food, using it to place down the pizza for a second so that he could twist the lid off the water bottle. His facial expression grew a tad bit more serious and thoughtful after having taken a sip, leaning back in the chair with blue optics lingering on the pizza for a couple of seconds before drifting over to Felix again.

“Sooo… I’m quite probably heading home with my parents in a couple of days.” Milan began with a reluctant tone to his voice. He wasn’t sure if more had to be added to that. He feared that starting to ramble would keep his buddy from voicing his opinion on the matter. Even though his mind was pretty much made up, it still was important to him how Felix would react. He didn’t want it to influence their friendship.

[Felix Arnaud]

The box hadn't escaped Felix's notice, but given that his friend hadn't been forthcoming about its contents, he figured it was a surprise of some sort--or, he chided himself, maybe it's not for you. This is Milan's graduation celebration, not yours. It probably didn't reflect well on the younger boy that the celebration had come to him in the first place; now that Milan was here, he was wondering if perhaps he ought to have gotten together with some of the shadow-walker's other friends to put something together.

Well, it was too late for that; the least he could do in the meantime was to scoot a little away from the carton. The inside was more or less lightless, so there was no risk of him seeing its contents ahead of time, but he might feel them out without meaning to.

“Sooo… I’m quite probably heading home with my parents in a couple of days.”

Felix felt his stomach drop an inch or two. "You, uh... you goin' visit home for a bit? That don't sound like such a bad idea." He didn't know why he was playing dumb; though the brunet hadn't had a lot of socialization, he wasn't oblivious enough that he could miss what Milan was getting at.

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Oh man. The least that could be sad was that Milan felt awful as Felix’s question reached his ears. Of course going home for a couple of days didn’t sound like a bad idea, but sadly enough it would be longer than that. So it made Milan’s gaze drop for a second, shoving the rest of the pizza slice into his mouth to be able to stay quiet for a few more moments. A sip from the water being thrown in as well.

“It… might be a bit more extensive than that…” Milan spoke while trying to pick his words carefully. He was not good at dancing around the truth though, and even if he would try, surely Felix could pick up on that. He slowly gazed over again, leaning back in the chair. “I’m… just not sure what to do with my life yet.”

The graduated student figured his friend would understand, but that didn’t take away the bad and somewhat guilty feeling. “But it wouldn’t change our friendship, right?”

[Felix Arnaud]

Felix cringed as he saw the look on his friend's face. God, what was he doing? This couldn't be any easier for Milan than it was for him, and he certainly wasn't helping by making him feel bad about his decision. He just... didn't know exactly how to respond. His friend wouldn't be fooled for a second by him trying to pretend that he was perfectly okay, and besides, that seemed weird anyway. Why would be he alright with his friend leaving?

"I..." he began, then tried again. "Ya gotta do whatcha gotta do." Most people in his position would have to hope their smile didn't look forced; Felix had the good fortune to be able to check and see that his didn't. "And hey, at least yer not rushin' into college without knowin' whatcha wanna go for, like some people." The brunet grabbed a few fries between his fingers, intent on trying to defuse the tension of the conversation. Somewhere in the back of his head, he had envisioned the worst-case scenario as them just hanging out one more time, saying 'see ya later', then parting ways for a bit longer than usual. This sort of serious conversation had been... ugh, he was just bad at it.

"And anyway," Felix waved the fries in the direction of his room, "I've got your address, of course I'll stay in touch! You were my first real friend here, no way I'd just give up on that." Left unsaid, of course, was the fact that he hadn't had any real friends before Hammel. But that sounded too much like whining.

[Deleted]

Going home wasn’t necessarily something that he had to do. While his friend was right about him not rushing into college without a second thought, technically this was exactly what he was doing when it came to moving back to his parents. He didn’t know what he wanted to go for. “I guess that’s one way to look at it,” Milan softly laughed while rolling his shoulders back for a second to release some of the tension he had been feeling. “Thank you though, for not reacting the way I had feared.”

With a small sheepish smile, the dark-haired boy opted for another slice of pizza. “The guest bedroom at home might finally be of some use then. You’ll be welcome at any time.” His parents were easy people; he was sure they wouldn’t mind their son making this promise. Then the tiniest of exhales was given and Milan allowed his gaze to settle on Felix again with some more confidence than before. “So, how do you plan on surviving without your wingman?” A smirk now settled on his lips, trying to add a lighthearted tone to the conversation. He didn’t want to leave while a negative mood lingered.

“You might end up being deprived from all your dates, since I am sure they only hang out with you to get closer to me.” His smile very wide as another subtle stab was given at his words from before. Milan was sure Felix would be fine though. In his opinion, it was incredibly difficult to not like the younger boy.