POV Jubilee
Her hands were shaking, her fingers unresponsive. The girl barely managed to open the water bottle, and after the third try, she was able to bring the neck to her lips. She had been living on the streets of New York for about a year, and during that time, she had to either run away from various kinds of freaks or fight them.
Back in school, she had been a professional gymnast and did a little track and field. Because of that, physically, even now, she could outpace many.
Considering her mutant abilities, she could stun and take down almost any opponent—at least, that was the case until today! First, they couldn't get rid of two junkie thugs, then they fell into the hands of a vampire, and after that, they were almost sliced by some bitch in fancy glasses holding a katana!
Of course, it would have been easy to blame Marius. If it weren't for him, she would have escaped long ago—he was the one holding her back. But that wasn't true. Her mom had always told her not to abandon guys in trouble, even if they were complete strangers.
But even aside from that advice, Marius moved faster than she did! It had to be admitted, the problem was with Lee—she had lost her once superior physical shape, and blaming her new acquaintance wasn't fair. After all, when the heat was on, it was him who saved them! Amazing, but true!
Take the situation with the vampire, for instance. Sparks might have stunned her, but that was all. They bought themselves some time, but they wouldn't have been able to escape anyway. Marius didn't panic; he went up to her, took her powers, and then simply killed her coldly.
Another guy in her position would have cried about what he'd done. No matter how you looked at it, he was definitely different from the rest. He was amazing! She realized this from the moment they met, or she wouldn't have followed him. But after that epic battle with the black bitch, after Marius successfully confronted an armed woman, Lee was ready to admit it out loud: she was smitten… or maybe embarrassed. It was hard to tell the difference when you needed to change your underwear either way.
"Well, how is it?" Marius asked, taking the bottle of water from Lee. "Feeling a little better?"
Jubilee weakly nodded and lowered her head. She felt broken and, mostly, awkward. Whatever she said about her new acquaintance—he was something else! After everything they had been through, he still had the strength to care for her! But all men only think about themselves, and they don't care about the feelings of their wives or just the women around them. All except for rare exceptions—it was amazing that Lee happened to meet a guy like him.
Jubilee felt like she was really starting to fall for him, and even one small flaw of his couldn't stop her feelings! She was sure that sooner or later, they would find a way to help Marius so he could touch others without consequences!
"Ugh, this is disgusting!" the guy spat out the water. "It's like it was taken straight from a swamp! How do you drink this?"
Jubilee snorted, at least for the first time in two days, but he complained about something. So, not everything was that bad, and even his oddities had limits. Though, Lee was honestly lucky her acquaintance was so brave and resilient; if it weren't for these qualities, they would already be dead!
"It's fine," she said, although she had no idea what it tasted like. The nervousness drowned out everything, even her taste receptors. But her pride wouldn't allow her to admit that. "It's really good!"
"Total crap," he said definitively. "Let's go already."
"Where?" the girl asked, already walking.
What couldn't be taken away from Marius was his independence. He wandered wherever he wanted, like a wild cat, and didn't listen to anyone. During the time she had spent with him, Lee had been the one following, not the other way around, as would be normal in any situation.
"I need a smoke," the guy answered. "You know where I can buy cigarettes?"
Lee shook her head. She didn't smoke and had never been interested in it. But she would like to buy a pack of gum. That was her weakness—working her jaw in a steady rhythm always calmed her down. She also liked to blow bubbles with gum.
Soon, they found what they were looking for. A small shop in the underground passage sold all sorts of things. Marius bought cigarettes, and she got the gum. As soon as the guy took a drag, he immediately started coughing. Clearly, he had never smoked before, or maybe he had taken a long break. Lee thoughtfully turned the gum pack over in her hands, but didn't open it.
"Marius, I… I wanted to confess," she finally said, watching as the guy tossed the cigarette butt into the trash.
"Uh… yeah?" he encouraged her, still coughing.
"I'm… I'm a mutant!" she blurted out, tucking her head into her shoulders!
"Got it," he said calmly.
She wasn't even surprised that he took it so calmly. Of course, he himself was a mutant, but she didn't think that was the reason.
"You knew," she said, more as a statement than a question. "But when did you figure it out? When you touched me?"
"Even earlier," he shrugged. "All those fire shows, fireworks, and all that. Only an idiot would believe that was a technical trick. When I touched you, I just confirmed my suspicions."
"But… why didn't you say anything right away?"
"Should I have?" he raised an eyebrow. "It's your secret. I was just waiting for you to decide to tell me when you came to that conclusion yourself."
Lee lowered her head.
"I'm sorry, I should have confessed when you said you were a mutant, but at first, I didn't believe it, and then… there was never really a chance."
The guy put the cigarette pack in his backpack and said, "Don't worry about it. We barely knew each other yesterday, and I understand that trust doesn't come quickly."
"Yeah, but you trusted me…" And that made Lee feel even worse.
"People are all different," he said philosophically. "Look, since we're having this talk, I'd like to continue it, but first, your swampy water's making me feel a little queasy. Hold my backpack, okay? I'll be right back."
Jubilee nodded and held his backpack tightly against her chest. Marius hurried into the public restroom, which was also located in the underground passage. Someone checked her out from the shoulder.
"Sorry," said an unremarkable man, giving her a glance with unusual yellow eyes, before hurrying into the men's room.
"Do people really have eyes that color?" Lee thought, but quickly dismissed the thought—it could have just been her imagination.