American Girl and Magnet Man - Train In Vain

[Banner Laverick]

She frowned, pressing her face into his shoulder. "I just wish I could stay here with you all the time. It always feels right; like nothing can go wrong when we're together. What if you meet another super heroine when I'm at Cullens? I know, it's dumb, I trust you, but...you shouldn't have to work at seeing me. Is that dumb?"

[Flux]

"Eh...kinda?" he ventured. "It's dumb to think I'd dump you for someone else on a whim, and over something like this distance thing, which I'm happy to try and work with before we take drastic measures like that. I don't think it's dumb of you to think we shouldn't have to work real hard to get together. I mean, not that you aren't worth the effort, because you are, just...it shouldn't have to be something rough to deal with. It should be just as easy as it can be, just because we deserve that."

[Banner Laverick]

"Yeah..."

She sat up, leaning over him, kissing Felix softly on the lips. As she broke the kiss, she brushed a few stray strands of hair off his forehead, smiling down at him.

"I think, we need to enjoy the time we have together, before I have to go...And I was really enjoying what we were doing back at the scrap-yard in that car. Wanna pick up where we left off?"

[Flux]

Felix pulled her over the top of him so she can straddle him, taking her hands and locking their fingers.

"We can do whatever you like," he said, stretching his arms over his head and pulling her down for a kiss. "Tonight's going to be all about you."

[Banner Laverick]

"Oh really?"

Her fingers ran up his sides, pulling his shirt up and off before letting her mouth trail kisses down his chin, neck, chest and lower...

It was a night filled with firsts for both of them; Felix was sleeping beside her, his face scrunched up in an adorable way as he hugged his pillow. She took her cell from her bag, typing up a mobile blog post before settling down beside him and falling asleep herself.

[Flux]

Felix woke up that morning, and every morning that week feeling like a million dollars, and went to bed each night feeling lower than the bottom of the sewer pipes running under New York City. He woke up to the knowledge that he was very well loved and appreciated. He floated through his days content in that powerful knowledge, and through it came to find a new strength for each day.

He walked the halls of his school with a new confidence. He moved with purpose, looking ahead of him instead of at the ground, and met the eyes of anyone who looked at him. At home, his parents noticed he was happier, and they definitely approved of him spending so much time outside the house. He spent all of it with Banner, at the mall, the movies, whatever they could think to do. It was over too quickly though, and at night he fell asleep only after he'd depressed himself into it with the thought of her leaving him. At last that time came, and he threw her luggage into the storage container built into her bus.

"Hey," he greeted her, shutting the compartment and walking over to her. "You gonna be okay?"

[Banner Laverick]

"I guess I have to be."

She brushed her hair back behind her ear, pulling him into a big hug and kiss combo. Sighing, she kept her face buried into his shoulder. They had spent as much time together during the past week as they could; it went by in a flash, and now she had to leave him to go to Cullens.

"I don't want to go. I don't really have a choice, you know?"

[Flux]

"I know, but it's gonna be okay. You have your phone, and your computer, and you know you can get a hold of me anytime of night if you need something suddenly. I'll try to get my parents to get moving on getting me a cell phone, so you can call me anytime of day, too." He kissed her cheeks and forehead before giving her one last, big kiss. "Be sweet, be safe, be good, be beautiful. You always do it so naturally." He smiled at her and squeezed her shoulders. "Love you, Banner."

[Banner Laverick]

Banner kissed him back, holding him as tightly as she could (well, as tight as she could without squishing him). She returned the smile, a few tears starting to well up in her eyes. "I'll talk to you every chance I get. And I'll come visit as much as I can. You're the best thing in my life, I'm not gonna let this come between us."

She kissed him one last night, as the driver started letting people onto the bus. She looked back at him as she stepped up onto the bus. "I love you, too, Felix. Be safe, and know that I'll be thinking of you all the time."

[Flux]

Felix smiled and gave her a cocky little salute as she climbed the stairs.

"I'll always be thinking of you, too! Have a great trip!"

He kept eye contact with her as she took her seat at a window on his side of the bus, and waved to her one last time as it drove out of sight. The very second it was gone, his anger manifested itself so suddenly that he actually frightened a nearby toddler with his expression. He kicked over a garbage can in his frustration, plugged himself into his aging CD player, and dialed up the volume as he started to walk home. To hell with Cullen's Institute.