Idle Hands...

[Isaac Monroe]

It was advised months ago that Isaac find some way to occupy his time in a more constructive, far less violent manner than usual.  The decision that he could burn off energy and make a little money in the process by taking up a part time position with the maintenance and grounds keeping crew was largely made for him.  While Isaac was hardly one to go along with any sort of authoritative suggestion, the alternative of regular meetings with councilors and being put under observation sounded much worse than toiling away in the hot, summer sun for a few hours a day.

What ended up happening was a pleasant surprise.  Isaac took to the work far better than even he thought possible.  There was something calming about having a task to do and being left alone to do it.  He was outside, where he'd always liked to be in the first place, the rest of the crew were decent enough folk, and it did, much to Isaac's reluctant admission, serve to help keep him out of trouble.  The most alarming thing was no that he actually liked the work he was able to do, but that he was good at it.  He picked up on the little things quickly, especially in the motor pool where the fleet of vehicles utilized by the Academy officials and staff were maintained and repaired.

Today, one of the carts the groundskeepers used had taken a crap while out on a routine inspection out just beyond the outskirts of the courtyard, between the campus proper and the wall surrounding it.  Isaac was dispatched and, finding it a relatively minor problem, opted to fix the machine where it sat.  And there he stood, hunched over the open hatch of the carts electric motor as the sun beat down on him.  Wiping sweat from his brow, he caught movement from the corner of his eye.  The steadily approaching figure was, at first, one he didn't recognize.  As it drew closer, however, he could scarcely believe what he was seeing.

Tossing the wrench he had in hand into the toolbox sitting in the grass beside him, Isaac snatched the greasy rag that had been hanging from the waistband of his jeans and wiped his hands.  He turned to face the girl, her tiny form unmistakable.  "Huh."  He said with just a hint of scorn touching his tone.  "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

[Addison Sloane]

Addison had decided to go back to the Academy after a whole day's worth of recording at the studio to find her friends to hang out with. She couldn't help but laugh to herself at the thought of her having people to hang out with who didn't just want her around, but enjoyed her company. She was beginning to think her coming back to Kalispell was the best idea she had since signing with her record label.

Armed with her monstrous headphones that covered practically her whole head with Gorilla blasting through the speakers, Addison cut through the quad to get to the building without much care of the people around.

She was crushing the 365th level of Candy Crush when she realised someone was standing in her way. Okay so she was walking without actually seeing where she was walking but still. Rude.

Annoyed, she shoved her headphones down to rest on her shoulders before readying to pocket her phone when she realised who the hulking shirtless figure was. He had filled out and his boyish features had disappeared underneath sharp angles and defined jaw muscles but there was no denying the familiarity behind that broody dramatic blue eyes.

A faint wince crossed her face at the crass language she still hadn't gotten used to after years of hearing it and using it herself. Confusion, surprise, adoration and fear crossed her face then as she realised what it meant seeing the boy she had spent some amazing years with only to leave him without a word.

Her jaw slacked just slightly as her eyes took Isaac in, all six feet something inches hulking shirtless glory of him, gulping inaudibly at how incredibly grown up he looked. She was at a loss for words, something that did not happen too often to the songstress. Though there were definitely a lot of things she wanted to say, they weren't cohesive as they ran through her mind. "How are you" seemed like a solid start. And then "I'm sorry" tried to compete for first place. Coming hard and fast at third place was the overwhelming urge to hightail it out of there.

"Aww, great to see you too, bro." Came out instead and the heat rising from her neck up indicated a blush just threatening to break out on to the surface. "I'm gonna just...I'll just be..." She started to point in a vague direction as her feet stumbled across the flat surface, trying to run away before he realised just how angry he really was that she was actually there.

[Isaac Monroe]

"Addison Sloane." Just the name alone touching his lips sent a cavalcade of conflicting emotions invading Isaac's mind and heart. Fond memories of a life long left behind melded with the sting of loss and the bitter taste of betrayal. She had been the one, the lone person who'd managed to dig through the hardened exterior a young Isaac had been forced to grow and drawn out the lost little boy hidden within. They'd only spent a year together and neither of them were old enough to understand what it meant, though it when it ended without so much as a note or letter it left Isaac all the more embittered and angry.

"What're you doing here?" His eyes locked upon Addison's. Keeping his emotions in check was a task Isaac was rarely up to accomplishing. His deep, blue gaze shimmered with equal parts disgust, surprise and heartache. It was crushing to look at her again after all these years. She hadn't grown much, she was still just a tiny thing. She was always beautiful in her own, unique way and that hadn't changed as she matured. Isaac's head shook as he leaned against the cart, arms folding across his chest.

"You running away again?" He asked as Addison looked to make a get away. His words were laced with venom, though the moment they hit the open air, Isaac regretted it. He frowned and exhaled slowly. "Sorry." He mumbled, dropping his gaze to the grass beneath his feet. "It's been a long time, Addie." And Isaac never was good with words.

[Addison Sloane]

Had she been any lesser of a woman, her knees would have buckled under Isaac's intense started and the way in which he said her name. Luckily, Addison only shivered slightly at the name. It seemed to only effect her when he said it and she didn't understand why.

The question posed was one she was actually surprised to hear. Especially in that tone of voice. Part of her knew she was to blame for that but a part of her wanted to retaliate in the worst possible way. Because seriously, where did he get off asking her what she was doing there? She was walking, damn it. "Oh you know...enjoying the breeze. Thought I saw a shirtless hottie but turned out to only be..." Her thought drifted and her sentence stopped when Isaac knowingly...or maybe unknowingly, hit her where it hurt most.

His apology fell on deaf ears as Addison's face fell. The colour drained out and her heart felt like it stopped beating. Of course Isaac was upset. Of course he had the right to be. But that did not mean she wasn't hurting too. Yes. If she was being honest with herself, she left because she couldn't deal with the emotions of being around Isaac. They were foreign, they were overwhelming and they were scary. For a fourteen year old, those were reasons enough to run away. Add the fact that she had started to bleed profusely every which way, there was no reason for her to stay.

And to be honest now, she didn't think she should stay either. "Yeah, you know what...let's try for another long period of time." She said, her voice stuck in her throat, making it sound like she was choking. She didn't deserve this.

Of course, all this was felt because she didn't hear his apology. But she was already turning around, blinking away hot tears and just wanting to disappear.

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac regretted the words the moment they slipped passed his lips and hit the open air. He saw the way they seemed to crush what hesitant spirit Addison may have had in his presence and it succeeded in sending a pang of guilt flashing across his features. His eyes lifted as the girl turned with obvious intent to make a hast retreat. He could let it end like this. Conflicting emotions were always dealt with by outbursts of anger. He didn't know how to deal with wanting to hug his long lost friend or spurn the person who'd left without a word all those years ago.

"Addie, wait." Isaac didn't give second chances. Rarely did someone even get a first one. Addison had been let in like not other before or since and she'd proven to him exactly why he was better off alone. He watched her, studied her, attempted in vain to figure out what he was supposed to do or how he was supposed to feel. Should he be happy to be reunited with a childhood friend? Should he be cold in the face of someone who'd hurt him?

He went to speak but no words came out. Isaac struggled to find the right ways to express himself in normal circumstances and this was anything but. His head shook and he sighed, glancing to the side as he desperately hoped Addison would say something, anything that would clue him in on how he was supposed to react. The only thing he knew for certain was he didn't want her to walk away. Again.

[Addison Sloane]

She tried to stop the tears that were now coming out like waterfall but to no avail. It didn't help that she heard him call her back. Even after all this while, it still had an effect on her. It was such a simple gesture, something people always took for granted but Addison always, always craved for that from Isaac.

Which, when you were fourteen, was a lot to take in. To be so dependent on one person that you crave their attention. But she had matured, hadn't she? She had learnt self control. Maybe.

Then why had she stopped walking? Why did she want to turn around so badly? And what was with this sudden urge to jump into his arms and kiss him until their lips chapped?

Addison then turned around, forcing herself not to run towards him at full speed. She had to ball up her fists and look to the side to do so. She wanted to say something. Something that could elevate the seriousness of the situation. But her defense mechanism was not kicking in and so she was left stranded and speechless.

She opened her mouth finally and acted on her original curiosity. "How are you here?"

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac was at a loss. He'd been at a loss, for the most part, from the moment he first stepped foot on campus.Nothing good would ever come from being here, he had thought. He hated it from the beginning and continued to hate it years later. While many students grew and adapted to their surroundings, some going so far as to flourish and thrive in this new environment, Isaac merely survived. Even now he remained only because the people here were the only ones who knew anything of his condition. The Academy had quickly come to represent the only option he had left.

And now, somehow, Bellefonte seemed to be presenting him with this. Yet another trial for him to go through. He'd been through enough already. What the hell was he supposed to do? Stand there like an idiot while this girl who'd devastated his younger self in a way he'd never let anyone else close enough to do again tried to do it all over? It was bullshit and she had no right to get that look of hurt on her face. Anger flashed in Isaac's eyes just as Addison turned around. In an instant, under the weight of her tear streaked face, the anger washed away.

"I'm a student." Isaac replied as he gave a weak gesture toward the main building of the Academy. While he wasn't wrong, per se, the title hardly did his actual role on campus justice. "And you?"

[Addison Sloane]

His answer surprised her and it showed as her hand wiped away residual tears. "Wh...wait, you're a mutant?" She asked, the word tasting like lead in her mouth. "When did you get here? How did you get here? What...what do you have?" She asked, somehow instinctively approaching closer.

In that instant, she felt like her fourteen year old self. The one who cherished every waking moment she had with the boy standing in front of her. The one who had hope that it would last. Whatever it had been.

[Isaac Monroe]

A death sentence

The words flashed through Isaac's mind but he opted to stay silent for a moment in hopes of piecing together a better response than the truth. He offered a faint shrug of his shoulders as his hands found the pockets of his dirty, grease-smeared jeans. "They call it 'adaptation'." He grumbled at no one in particular. "I call it bullshit." There wasn't much to say. His status as a mutant was a less than stellar topic to open with, though he figured it made sense to ask. He wouldn't hold that against the young woman.

"I got picked up when I was sixteen." He continued. Normally Isaac didn't like talking about himself. Isaac Monroe was easily the worst thing he could think of to discuss. More than a hint of that almost awkward demeanor that settled over him when he was faced with an uncomfortable situation he couldn't simply lash out violently at it came out. Another shrug, a sigh, and his eyes shifted back to look at Addison. Hopefully she had stopped crying. He couldn't bear the look on her face when she was crying. "But you didn't answer my question." He persisted, waving only slightly when her gaze settled upon him again. "How long have you been here?"

[Addison Sloane]

A part of Addison felt like Isaac had wanted to say something but there was a hesitation she didn't expect from the boy. She needed to stop calling him that because he was not a boy anymore. His power drew a blank to Addison. She wasn't so much a powers expert but she did manage to learn quite a fair number of powers on campus. Adaptation was not one of them.

Although if she was using common sense, adaptation was exactly as it said.

Isaac's next response drew a look of realisation from the small hemokinetic. That was why she never met him. She was probably gone by the time he got in.

"Huh? Oh right. Me. Fourteen." Addison knew she should have told him the rest of that story but telling the one person in her life she thought she could have no fear of leaving her that she left him was not something she wanted to do. "On and off. I spent fourteen and fiftee here and then I uh...my singing career sort of took off."

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac had so many questions and seemingly lacked the ability to properly fit together the right words in order to ask them. He took all this new information in with a blank expression on his face. Still, he had no idea what to make of Addison's sudden emergence or anything she told him. He was stuck between two conflicting emotions that pulled so strongly in different directions it had nearly stunned him into inaction.

"Fourteen." He repeated. That was around the age she'd vanished without a trace. It would explain a great deal. His head tilted as he looked to her curiously as the realization sunk in. "Wait... was that why...?"

[Addison Sloane]

Addison watched as something clicked in Isaac. She had two options. Option one was to tell him the truth. Tell him out right that it had been an awful coincidence that she was taken roughly around the same time she purposely left him. Option two was to act dumb.

She chose option two.

"Why what?" She asked, her hands sliding into her pockets to grab the first thing she could find. She had to anchor herself to this lie, because if not, her realisation that this world was just full of people who leave would be played out. She of course conveniently forgot that she had done the leaving the first time around.

[Isaac Monroe]

A low grunt of frustration escaped Isaac's throat. There was no way Addison was that ignorant. If she was unaware of the mammoth elephant that was obviously looming over them then the years hadn't been kind in any way to her. His head shook as his jaw clenched. It took a couple moments for him to be able to force the words from his lips. As laborious as it was, Isaac was finally able to to ask the one question he never thought would ever get a answer.

"Why'd you leave?"

[Addison Sloane]

She winced at his reaction, physically flinching away. Her heart was beating quite fast against her ribcage as she dared to look up at Isaac. She had expected the question because she would have asked the same thing. Once again, lying seemed to be the best option.

"I didn't leave." She shook her head, looking down at her feet as she tried to keep her breathing in control. "They...I came here." She said. Once the lie was out there, she did nothing to stop it from growing.

"There was no way I could call or write to you. I was afraid you had left the home."

[Isaac Monroe]

Isaac's eyes narrowed as he watched Addison stammer through her answer. The pieces were falling into place now. It made sense that the only thing that could pull the two kids apart was the men in black coming and taking one of them away. His head shook as he slowly moved forward, almost cautiously drawing closer to Addison. "So, that was it?" He said, brow furrowed. "That's why you disappeared?" A hand came up and ran through his hair. "I spent weeks looking for you. I went everywhere. When I couldn't find you, I left."

With a sharp exhale of breath, Isaac's fingers laced together behind his head. "I thought the worst and you'd been here the entire time." He breathed.