Please catch the wind If I can't breathe in

[Luxanna Viera]

Straightening out the sheets in front of her, Luxanna sighed. She really hated those days where she was stuck in bed because of her ability. Once again, she had ended up getting so sick she had to stay in bed. And even though she was already feeling a lot better, the nurse had told her to stay here for at least another day so she could get some check ups to make sure everything was in order. It didn't help her mood much that her passing out had happened rather publically and drawn a lot more attention to herself than what she had liked. Luckily, Luxanna didn't have a lot of friends, so she didn't have to worry about a lot of visitors. Not that the nurse had allowed anyone to see her until now anyways, so it didn't really matter.

Sighing, Luxanna sat up and folded her hands in her lap. Man, was she bored. She always grew so extremely restless when lying still for too long. She wanted to get out of here and do something more reasonable with her time. Like... Watching a movie. While sitting still... Okay, so maybe her life wasn't all that exciting to begin with. Ah, well. It could have been worse.

Pursing her lips, she leaned to the side and started digging through a stack of magazines on the floor. Really, as frequent as her visits to the nurse's office was, one would think she'd have an entire pile of things to keep her occupied. She had probably read all of these a million times already!

It wasn't until the sound of the door creaking that Luxanna looked up. Narrowing her eyes, her gaze fell on a familiar face standing in the doorway, "Tim," she said, her voice even, "What are you doing here?" she asked as she looked around. He hadn't known, had he? No, he probably needed something from the nurse...or something. Well, crap. This didn't look good at all.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Just, uh, returning an ice pack," said Tim. He was tempted to point out the discolored portion of his face, but that would result in his having to explain to Lux how it had gotten that way which in turn would result in his having to explain to Lux about the whole kerfluffle about Charlie and everything that had come about of it. Tim would rather very much ignore all that right now, not least of all because Lux appeared to be laying in a bed, looking, well, she didn't really look chipper, but Tim didn't see any bleeding or anything.

He reached up to adjust his glasses, even removing them for a moment. He rubbed them on his t-shirt, still looking over at Lux as he did. This technically removed one of the few things obscuring his injury, but Tim was pretty well counting on his natural coloration from making it too horribly noticeable. "So, uh, what are you doing here? You look okay," he brought his glasses back to his face, readjusting them. He blinked owlishly a few times before nodding. "Yeah, you look fine. Got all your limbs and everything. So, like, why are you here?"

He paused for a moment, looking around. "Is it for the ambiance? You know, we could just strip down a hotel room or something, unless the sterile thing is something you're into, which is cool, i guess. Or something..." he trailed off, mostly because he wasn't sure what to make of this whole... situation. Was certainly more interesting than just turning in an ice pack, that was for darn sure.

[Luxanna Viera]

Smiling awkwardly, Lux took a deep breath before she looked at the boy again, trying her best to look as quipper as she possibly could, "An ice pack?" she asked, frowning slightly, "Why would you need an- actually, nevermind," she chuckled, "That's really none of my business." She didn't want the boy to feel forced into answering her question. People liked their privacy; Luxanna knew that all too well.

Sighing a little, Luxanna looked away at his question, shrugging a little as she tried formulating her words just right; She didn't want to get into the sappy story of her ability, but perhaps there was a way for her to say she was her because of it, without including parts of it? "I am okay," she said quickly, attempting at her most convincing smile. She wasn't quite sure how easily fooled Tim was, or if it even worked, but she really, truly hoped that it would. She wasn't sure though, if she was afraid of upsetting him, or having him pity her the most. Both seemed less than preferred, but was it wrong of her to hide it? Especially since she had gone on a date with him?

Sighing again, the brunette leaned back against the wall behind her bed, resting her hands idly in her lap, "Uhm," she began, scrunching her eyebrows, "The side-effects of my power is very draining, so I have to come here for check-ups once in a while." Yes, more like once every week, sometimes even more, but that hardly mattered, did it? Probably not. "It's okay though, it's not really that bad. They just make me sleep here for observations and stuff," she said and shrugged. "I should have been dismissed already, but the nurse seems to be running late..." she trailed off.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Got punched," said Tim, again pointing to his face, "in the face. Mostly deserved it," he left it at that, adding a slight shrug. He wouldn't have wanted to get into it even if he hadn't been far, far more concerned about Lux. He'd heard rumors that something ate away with her, cancer or whatever, but Tim dismissed those. He pretty well dealt in rumors after all, so he wasn't about to take too much stock in them.

Lux said she was okay, which sounded... sort of true? Mostly true? Tim nodded regardless. She took enough of what he said at face value, enough that he didn't feel he was in any position to demand more of her. He would just believe her, no matter what. he owed her that much.

She did continue though. Tim pushed up his glasses as she did, nodding with understanding. "yeah, that happens with people from time to time. I'm betting that your power has some pretty gnarly side effects anyway," he nodded again, then took a few steps closer, smiling. "I could wait with you if you want. You know, keep you company and all. Not like I've got anything better to do. Not that I wouldn't, like, put something aside to spend time with you or anything. Because I like spending time with you. Obviously. A lot," Tim sighed, letting out his breath slowly before reaching up to massage the bridge of his nose.

"I'm just saying, if you want some company while you wait, I'm your man."

[Luxanna Viera]

"You got... Punched?" Luxanna asked, tilting her head. Who would ever want to punch someone like Tim? Sure, his head might have been in the wrong place at times, but he was like the kindest guy there was! Then again, from Lux's understanding, one didn't always need a legit reason to punch anyone. Some people were just like that after all, "Are you okay?" She squinted her eyes a little, but couldn't really see anything out of the ordinary. Then again, she wasn't particularly observant anyways.

When Tim offered to wait with her, the brunette opened her mouth to speak, but as Tim continued to ramble on and on, she didn't quite find the room to say anything at all. Instead she closed her mouth and smiled. Only when he finished did she speak, "I'd love that," she said, nodding. Scooting over, the brunette made room for the boy to sit next to her on the bed. She knew all too well how uncomfortable the chairs in here was, and since he was nice enough to offer to sit with her, she could at least make sure he was comfortable.

Patting the space next to her, Luxanna returned her hands to her lap and sat up, her back leaned against the wall and the back of her head leaned against it as well. "Thank you," she said, her smile widening. "That's really nice of you-- and I like spending time with you too, you know. A lot." She really did. Tim was a breath of fresh air. Unlike any of her other friends, this one was comfortable to be around and she actually felt normal whenever she was around him. She didn't feel like she had a reason to be awkward or even shy. It was nice. He was nice.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Yeah," said Tim, shifting again, looking away. He hadn't felt that guilty about the whole incident, the punching and what he'd said and all, at least, not as guilty as some people probably thought he should be. But now, standing in front of Lux, he felt as though he had blood on his hands or something, like he should be confessing every little wrong he'd ever done. "I, uh, kinda said stuff about people on a blog and I probably shouldn't have. I'm trying to work through it," or avoid it, which was close enough.

Tim tried another shrug before coming over to the bed. He sat down, scooting back to get into the most comfortable position he could. He really would've opted for one of the chairs, even knowing that the ones in the various classrooms were oftentimes more comfortable, and those were pretty well designed for torture (though Tim heard that the school was getting new funding and that things were going to be very swank really soon).

Lux liked spending time with him! Tim nearly did a little happy dance at that. He actively had to resist the urge to do some wiggling and stuff, instead settling for nodding and smiling at Lux. "Cool, glad to know the feeling's mutual," he pursed his lips for a moment, only needing that long before being able to come up with something to say (sadly, talking was never an issue for Tim): "The bats say hi, by the way. They're still up for another visit whenever," hey, they had enjoyed her, obviously, as Tim had anticipated they would. Because he did, and junk.

[Luxanna Viera]

"Ah," Luxanna said, nodding a little. Her smile was quick to return though, "People often say a lot of things they don't mean, or that can be taken the wrong way," she pointed out, shrugging, "I don't think it's fair of them to punch you over it though, even if it was something really, really bad. They should rather have told you how it made them feel rather than stooping to such a low level and choosing the violent part. If anything, they just proved how much worse they are than you." Luxanna sighed then, shaking her head, "Not that I think you're bad at all."

Turning her head to face him, Luxanna chuckled, "Oh do they now? Good, I'm glad," she said with a soft smile. She was glad Tim's 'friends' had liked her. And even though it might have been something he just said to make her feel better, it did. Then again, the boy seemed to have that talent, no matter how bad of a day she had, he always made her smile. "Tell them I said hi back," she added with another chuckle. "They were really cool too." She wasn't sure which she had enjoyed the most, watching and meeting the bats, or getting to spend time with Tim in a more 'comfortable' environment.

"I'd love to go again, but only if you want me to, of course." Even though he'd told her he liked spending time with her, she still couldn't shake the feeling of that she was forcing herself on him, in a way. Then again, he probably wouldn't be hanging around her had he not wanted to. One never knew though, and it was better to be certain.

Luxanna then reached out her hand to place Tim's in her own, giving it a gentle squeeze before offering him a shy smile, "Thanks though. For being here and stuff. And everything else."

[Tim Tawfeek]

Tim shrugged. He was tempted to actually defend the other people, if only because he couldn't help but feel like he definitely didn't deserve the almost worshipful view that Lux had of him. how the heck had she gotten that? He spent most of his time around her flailing and talking like an idiot. She should be off with someone else, like, a prince or something.

Instead, she was looking at him, chuckling, obviously pleased that the bats loved her. Like they wouldn't. "I have, told them hi, a few times. And you did tell them you'd visit again and all, so, I, uh, yeah, it's cool, really. I mean, we could make it another date if you wanted or something. Though if you, like, wanted to, I dunno, date someone else, that would be cool too. We could, uh, just go as friends or whatever. I do need to take you, like, soon, or they're gonna poo----attack me. They'll attack. Viciously. With little bat claws. it'll be horrible."

Tim nodded, glad to have narrowly avoided talking about poop (again). Bad enough that he got the word vomit around Lux without throwing in stuff like that. Would probably be easier if he didn't feel so relaxed around her, like he could say pretty much anything and she'd just take it in stride. "Wha? no problem, really. my pleasure and all. Heck, if you want, I could come with you every time you come in to do this. It's gotta suck, having to do regular med visits and stuff," Tim nodded, then reached up with his free hand. wait, free hand? Aaaaah, touching. Willing touching! This would so go in his blog if he still kept one! his private blog then! Or his semi-private one!

Touching!

[Luxanna Viera]

Another ramble started falling out of Tim's mouth, but this time it had the brunette frowning a little. Date someone else? Well, granted, they hadn't ever talked about what their date had meant, or what it made them, so she probably shouldn't put too much weight on his words. It did make her a little sad though. She did chuckle at the image of the bats attacking him. "Well, then, I guess that means I don't have a choice," she smiled. "However.." she added and knitted her eyebrows, "I don't want to like... Go on dates with anyone else," she said silently and shrugged, the crimson red flush returning to her cheeks. Was that lame? Maybe that was his way of- no, Tim wasn't like that. Was he?

"I'd love that, but you don't have to at all. I mean, it would be really nice of you, but it gets awfully boring really quickly, so I don't want you to like, force yourself or something," she said and gave his hand another squeeze. "And yeah.. It does suck, but it's all part of the whole package, you know? It's not like I can do much about it, so.." she trailed off and shrugged. This felt nice though. Holding his hand like this and just sitting here, with him. She couldn't remember ever feeling this way before.

She had only kissed once in her entire lifetime, and she hadn't felt this way around Ricky. It had been awkward and maybe even a little forced. Not by him, of course, but by herself. She had to admit that it did make her a little curious to know if this perhaps would be different, if she only took the first step to kiss Tim. But what if it didn't? And what if she just made everything... Messy? She didn't want it to be messy with Tim. She... Liked him too much. But she was really, really curious too... But what if he didn't want her to kiss him?

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Well, uh, you don't, um," tried Tim, fidgeting almost as much physically as he did verbally. "Uh, yeah, dating would be, like, cool, and junk," he shrugged, trying to act like there wasn't some chibi version of himself running around screaming joy into a megaphone, likely while shooting off fireworks and quite possibly doing dance moves that could not be easily replicated in real life.

A squeeze as Lux said that Tim didn't have to come in and spend time with her. To which he almost immediately blew his lips in protest and waved a free hand. "No big deal. It's gotta be better for you, right? If someone's here? Plus, like, I get to spend time with you, which is always fun. I mean, if you don't, like, want me to or something, that'd be cool too. I could totally see, like, wanting people to not, like, see you being all hospitaly...hospitalized, yeah, there's a word for that, and junk," Tim shrugged. He gave Lux's hand another little squeeze though, adding a smile.

"Hey, you could always just, you know, grab a furby or something next time. Then you'd have someone to talk to who only sounds like an idiot part of the time," Tim suggested, adding a few nervous laughs at the end, all of which trailed off in something like a sigh as he looked back at Lux, moving to adjust his glasses with the free hand again.

[Luxanna Viera]

Frowning a little, Luxanna cocked her head to the side, "You don't want to?" she asked and studied his face before averting her gaze. Well, she couldn't exactly force it on him, and maybe she had simply let her imagination run wild? No, that wasn't Tim, right?

"No, no," she said and shook her head, perhaps a little too quick. "I like spending time with you too, and I want you here," she said and attempted at a meek smile, "I just don't want you to like..." She chewed on her bottom lip as she tried finding the right words. "I don't want you to feel like you're being forced, you know?" she sighed and lifted her free hand to rub her temples. As much as she enjoyed being around him, the two of them having trouble communicating which often made things awkward seemed to be quite an issue, but she wasn't quite sure how to fix it either. Maybe they just needed to get a little more comfortable around one another?

When Tim spoke again, Luxanna turned to look at him, her eyebrows knitting together, though there was a visible smile splayed upon her lips, "You don't sound like an idiot, Tim." Sure, he sometimes said odd things and he didn't always seem to know what to say, but he didn't sound like an idiot. If anything, it was sort of cute.

But that didn't exactly help them in this situation. And it didn't make her feel any better, because part of her knew that if they continued from here, and she did make her feelings known, she would eventually have to hurt him by telling him the truth, and Luxanna wasn't sure if she could force him through something like that. She didn't want to cause him, or anyone that kind of pain.

He was too good. But it was inevitable. "Hey, Tim," she said, her voice even, "Could you bring me my medical journal, or whatever?" she asked and nodded towards the cabinet next to the nurse's desk. "It should be in the bottom drawer, under V."

[Tim Tawfeek]

"What? No, I want to! I definitely want to! I, like, super want to. I super duper---" Tim flailed for a few moments, his hands moving as he tried to figure out the best way to say something. He ended up sighing, moving his eyes to the ceiling and telling himself to rest for a few moments. This gave Lux time to talk again, and Tim looked over at him, seeing her chew her lip (ugh) and being forced?

"You're kidding, right?" said Tim, chuckling nervously. He reached up to adjust his glasses again. "Lux, I--I'm probably gonna sound like an idiot again, but you know I told you that I was all, like, crushing on you before I found out that you're this super awesome person. I seriously can't think of anyone else I'd rather end up dating. Not even, like, some super-hot model or something. I'd totally pick you over them, because, well," Tim shrugged, looking away for a bit, shuffling about on the seat, "I like spending time with you, it's---huh?'

Because she mentioned getting a file. Tim blinked, the action looking especially owlish given his glasses. Still, he shrugged, hopping down and moving over to it. He didn't ask, just figured that she wanted to check something, maybe get out of here. He thumbed through easily enough, having no trouble sorting through files and whatnot. Soon he pulled out the folder. Tim held it for a few seconds, his fingers working along it. Should he open it? No, no, that would be wrong.

so Tim walked over, bringing the folder back. "Here you go," he said, nodding. "I really don't see anything in there changing my mind though."

[Luxanna Viera]

His attempt to ease her mind, or perhaps share his feelings brought a smile to her face that replaced the frown, "That makes me happy," she said softly and let a faint chuckle escape her closed lips. It did really make her happy to hear, because she too wanted to be dating him, but there was still a few issues that needed to be settled before she could move forward. And it wasn't exactly going to be pleasant either, but he deserved that much. She couldn't lie about it; Sure, they'd might not end up dating for very long, so that in the end, it probably wouldn't matter, but there was always that one 'what if'.

She didn't say anything when he spoke again. Instead, the brunette smiled and her entire face flashed red and she was pretty sure it was going to light on fire any second now. God, how could anyone possibly be that sweet? She wasn't entirely sure what she had done to deserve something like that, but whatever it was, she was sure she was going to continue doing it. Well... When she found out what it was anyways.

Luxanna attempted to calm her beating heart when Tim finally moved to collect her file. It was as if someone was holding her gut with iron claws, digging them deep into her flesh and twisting. She was already regretting it, she wanted to bail and never look back. She didn't want him to know, but he deserved to. She didn't want to trick him into something that was going to end up.... She sighed and averted her gaze. 

This was going to be painful. She just knew it.

"Read it," she said as he returned. Lifting her gaze, her green eyes met his and then she nodded. "It's okay." She could already feel her voice break; She pictured the way his face would change while reading it. "It should be under the section about my power," she explained, "Page three," she added and averted her gaze once more. She didn't know what else to say.

"I'm sorry," she added quickly and closed her eyes.

[Tim Tawfeek]

"Read it?" repeated Tim, meeting Lux's eyes. She said it was okay, it sounded almost like she wanted him to read it. Something about her power... her power, the adaptation thing. Those kind of powers did frequently come with some heinous side effects, but what could be so horrible that Lux would want this of Tim? He didn't know, and he wanted to talk, to ask, to blabber, to do what he often did when he felt nervous. Instead, he shifted, opening the folder.

Power: Reactive Adaptation

Page three: Tim looked up at those words, and he nodded. He took a deep breath, flipping through. He read. Read intently. He reread. He sat down again. Strain on the body; difficulty with illness.

Sorry.

This meant...
Her power was going to...
Kill her?

"It--" he said, looking up, his mouth worked for a few seconds, before Tim looked back at the folder. He removed his glasses, massaging the bridge of his nose with his hand. he put them back on. He blinked. "Your power is---it's going to---this sounds like it's going to---" he looked up at her, blinking. "But that's just--there's all this medicine, and people are studying powers and stuff. You don't know that--it could, something could..."

And he thought he didn't make sense before.

[Luxanna Viera]

She didn't open her eyes for a long time. Not until he spoke. She remained quiet and listened to the pages being turned, listened to the sound of his breathing; She was pretty sure her heartbeat was loud enough for people in the next room to hear, but even so, that wasn't what she focused on. No, she focused entirely on the sound of his breath; It had an oddly calming effect. It was almost deafening, but at the same time, it was also sort of nice. It was hard to explain, but it made her feel better, all things considered.

When he did speak though, the brunette opened her eyes to meet his gaze. She nodded, but stopped halfway through and shifted her position. "On page five it mentions my mother," she said, "Remember how I told you we have the same ability?" she asked and sighed. "There is no cure." She wished there was, but it didn't exist. Not yet, anyways. And she didn't want to keep her hopes up by claiming that there possibly would be one. She would, for him, but not for herself. She knew what was coming. She had known for quite some time now.

"I'm sorry," she whispered and looked away; She looked everywhere but at him. Her eyes nervously traveling through the room, never really settling on anything. She didn't even know how to begin describing how all of this made her feel. She didn't want to hurt him, and she didn't want him too--

"I should have told you sooner."