Chapter Text
As the uber crept slowly down the street past large and expensive houses, Alex Chen felt more nervous of the meeting to come. It had been a wild ride since leaving Haven Springs with Steph Gingrich. They’d toured the east coast for a little while where Alex had played her music to small crowds while Steph worked the bar to top up their income. Every new city they’d meet new people, soak up the local culture and enjoy the nightlife.
But this was their first time on the West Coast since Alex had left Portland for Haven Springs, and unlike their normal adventures of riding into the unknown together Steph knew who they were going to be meeting. They’d been planning the trip for a few weeks as Steph called in old favours to get Alex into the indie scene in San Francisco but as their destination grew closer Alex could feel the joy radiating from Steph that mingled and tried to overwhelm her own feelings of anxiety.
“Here you are, ladies,” the driver said as he put the vehicle in park.
“How much?” Steph said, sitting forward as she awkwardly tried to pull her wallet from her tight jeans..
“Already covered.” The man smiled into the rearview. “Do you need a hand with your bags?”
“Nah, we’ve got them,” Steph said, giving Alex a gentle nudge. “Come on slowpoke, we’re here.”
Stepping out into the afternoon sun Alex took a moment to look up at the house they’d stopped outside of. It wasn’t what she’d been expecting when Steph said they’d be visiting her friends. She’d been expecting an apartment above a bar or a weed shop, or even a small house in a rougher part of the city. Instead she was looking down a street that spoke of wealth and culture.
“I’ll do all the heavy lifting then, huh?” Steph teased gently. Alex looked around to see Steph pulling their two bags out of the trunk, followed by the guitar case.
“Figured you need the exercise,” she fired back with a grin.
“Uh huh. Well you can carry your guitar, I may get all clumsy and drop it.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Alex said as she reached out for the case.
She’d already realised what Steph was doing, teasing her to keep her distracted from her feelings of anxiety that had wrapped around her heart like tendrils. Even without her own superpowers of empathy Steph was keenly aware of how this trip had started to make her feel and was doing what she could to make it easier.
“Come on then,” Steph said as she shouldered Alex’s bag and pulled her own case.
“Normally I’m the one who gets to say that.” She took hold of Steph’s free hand and allowed herself to be pulled towards the house.
Before they could make it two steps towards the building the front door was opened and a young blue-haired woman was standing in the doorway with a large grin on her face.
“Chloe!” Steph shouted, releasing Alex and the suitcase to rush forwards.
“Hey Steph,” the woman said before Alex’s girlfriend wrapped her arms around the girl, forcing her a couple of steps backwards into the house.
They embraced for a moment as Alex continued up the path in her girlfriend’s wake, seeing the auras of pure joy around both of the women ahead of her.
“Where’s Rach and Max?” Steph asked, taking a step back and pulling Alex’s hand back into her grasp.
“Max got called into the gallery so Rach offered to go with her, they should be back soon,” Chloe said with a smile.
“So, uh, Chloe, this is my girlfriend Alex Chen,” Steph said, biting her lip in a cute and nervous way. “Alex, this is Chloe Price. We used to go to school together.”
“Nice to meet you, Alex,” Chloe said, offering out her hand.
“Nice to meet you too,” Alex took the offered hand and smiled warmly. “I hope it’s not too much trouble for you letting us crash.”
“Psht, naw,” Chloe took a step back and waved them inside. “More than enough space. And Rach has been talking about it for weeks.”
“And you’re just itching to play twenty questions now,” Steph grinned as she placed Alex’s bag beside the couch.
It was an open plan room divided by two large couches in a corner shape around the flat screen TV. A stack of science books dominated the dining table along with a scattering of coloured pens and notebooks. It hadn’t been what Alex was expecting from the outside of the building, but the style closely matched the woman in front of them.
“Maybe a little,” Chloe answered with a cheeky smile.
“Or maybe a lot,” Alex said with a smirk of her own, getting pulled into the banter like it was second nature.
Chloe gave a shrug of her shoulders but the expression on her face spoke volumes. She was curious by nature and it showed in her emotions. It wasn’t so strong that Alex could feel it or glean information, but she could see the shift of colours around Chloe’s head that brilliantly laced through with joy.
“Why don’t you guys get settled in, then when Rach and Max get back we can crack some beers, play catch up?” Chloe offered.
“Sounds good to me,” Steph nodded. “Same room?”
“Yup, the other one is Max’s work space.”
“Gotcha.”
Making their way up the stairs to the second floor Alex paid close attention to the multiple pictures hanging on the wall. Many of them were landscape pictures that had been captured with an artist's eye and tagged in the bottom corner with a scrawled ‘MC.’ She could recall Steph telling her how Max had a flare for capturing moments with her camera, so she could only assume it was some of her work. Other pictures were of the women who lived in the house. Chloe was unmistakable with her blue hair of varying lengths over the years but Alex didn’t know which of the two other women were Max or Rachel. The blonde haired woman was shorter than Chloe in the pictures, but she had a model pose with sparkling green eyes and a blue feather earring. The brunette appeared a little more reserved, almost more serious by nature.
“Which is-” she started to say, but Steph seemed to have been paying attention to her gaze.
“Rachel is the blonde. Max is the brunette. And before you start wondering, they’re a triad kind of thing.”
“A what?” she whispered as Steph nudged her through an open door into one of the bedrooms. It wasn’t as large as the loft she’d lived in back in Haven Springs but it certainly put some of the motels and hotels that they’d stayed in to shame.
“A triad,” her girlfriend repeated as she closed the door. “They’re all in love with one another. I don’t quite understand it myself, but if they’re happy I’m not gonna judge.”
“How does something like that happen?” Alex said aloud when she’d meant to keep it to herself.
Steph bit her lip and pulled the expression that Alex had come to associate with her worrying about what to say. She’d started to frown and look down at the floor, drawing into herself despite knowing that Alex could read her emotions like a book.
“It was a really strange year,” Steph finally said with a small shrug. “There was that freak storm, a teacher was arrested, Rachel had gone missing. But then Chloe and Max found her and something just clicked between them. Rach and Chloe had already been inseparable at school, and I may have had something to do with that.” A spark of pride laced through her emotions that made Alex smile. “They just chose to face life together, and after what happened I can’t blame them.”
She could recall hearing about a storm in some small harbour town but it hadn’t been something Alex had paid any real attention to. She’d been in the orphanage that year, dealing with the emotions of other kids and trying not to lose herself to their rage at a broken system. The outside world had been so far away that it wasn’t important what happened in some small bay far away from her own issues.
“Anyway, if you’d prefer to stay somewhere else I could book us a hotel or-”
“No, this is fine,” Alex quickly said. “They’re your friends and it’s gonna be fun hearing stories about a younger Steph Gingrich.”
“Oh, now I’m definitely finding a hotel,” Steph retorted, reaching for her phone with a playful look in her eyes.
“Nope,” Alex plucked the phone from her hands. “You brought us here, this was your idea, and I’m looking forward to meeting them now.”
“Give me my phone,” Steph said, trying to sound serious.
“I dunno.” She walked around the side of the bed to the window that looked out on the back garden, keeping the phone behind her back. “It’s not like you need it.”
“Phone.” Steph followed her around the bed, her voice more stern but her emotions not matching the tone.
She held it out for Steph to take, but as her girlfriend reached for the item she pulled it away with a grin. The second time Steph tried to take it she quickly put the phone behind her back, forcing her girlfriend to step closer and reach behind her. It was then she pressed her lips to Steph’s and kissed her firmly, releasing the phone into Steph’s hand only so she could pull her hips closer.
“I hate it when you do that,” Steph growled as they released one another.
“No you don’t,” Alex teased with a wink.
The sounds of the front door opening pulled them away from their display of affection. It seemed the two other occupants of the house were back and it was time to meet Steph’s other friends.
“Do me a favour?” Steph said, a trickle of fear edging through her aura of emotions.
“Sure.”
“Don’t let them know I’ve told you? Not sure how they’d feel, they’ve always been a bit private with that part of their lives.”
It felt like an odd thing to be private about. Steph would tell anybody who wanted to know how she and Alex had met and got together. But what Typhon had done in Haven Springs had become national news and it was difficult not to link those two moments of their lives together. They’d met because of a tragedy, and they’d fallen in love since.
“So, ready to meet them?”
“Let’s do this.”
Voices echoed up the stairs as Alex followed her girlfriend back down to the first floor. Before she could reach the bottom a girl yelled out and Steph was soon engulfed in a full body hug, her face covered by blonde hair while the glow of joy overwhelmed the two friends and forced a smile to Alex’s face. She could almost feel the warmth radiating off them as some of the happy memories leaked out and pressed against her heart. It was always a wonderful sensation to feel the pure joy, especially that radiated not from one but two people.
“It’s been too long,” Rachel said as she finally released Steph from her hug. “And you must be Alex.”
“Hi,” Alex said, taking hold of Steph’s hand as she stood beside her.
“This is Rachel,” Steph said as she gave her a small nudge forward.
“And this,” Chloe said, almost pulling Max along. “Is Max, who’s always bashful until we get a beer or two in her.”
“Nice to meet you,” Max said as she offered her hand for Alex to shake.
Without hesitation Alex was all too willing to offer the offered hand. “It’s nice to meet you too. I saw your artwork on the walls. You’re very talented.”
“Thank you.”
“If you’ve got the time between gigs, you can always check out the gallery,” Rachel said. “Max does more than landscapes and works with a bunch of models.”
“Or Rach, whenever she’s in the mood,” Chloe added.
“Hey, Steph got in on that action too,” Rachel quickly retorted.
“You did?” Alex said, looking sideways at her girlfriend. “Do I even know you?” she teased.
“It was a drunken bet. You know what I’m like for bets,” Steph said defensively.
“Plus, you really enjoyed it,” Alex added as she heard the giggling of a memory.
“Not talking about it,” Steph growled. “You had to bring it up?” she shot at Rachel.
“Have to start somewhere,” Rachel whispered with a wink. “So… who wants beer? We might as well get this chill session started. I wanna hear all about Haven Springs and this Typhon business.”
“Go for it,” Steph said with a nod.
“You heard about that?” Alex asked as Chloe and Max headed for the kitchen together.
“When shit kicks off in a small place you know your friend is at? Yeah, you hear about it,” Rachel said, dropping onto one of the couches. “But whenever I’ve asked, Steph has to go and make me wait.”
“That’s a long story,” Steph responded as she sat down on the other couch, pulling Alex down beside her. “And I really don’t think you wanna start with that mess tonight.”
“We’ve got the next, what, three weeks with you? I say better get it out of the way so we can have a blast.”
“Better get comfy then,” Alex said as Max passed her a bottle of beer with a gentle smile.
As Alex started to tell their story she noticed how Max was sandwiched between the two other girls. She couldn’t quite understand what it was but an emotion of fear flickered around Max that had tied itself tightly into the feelings of joy she had at being with the two women beside her. It was a light play around the brunette’s head that Alex had never seen before in a person, as some sadness or guilt leaked through the joy only to be swallowed again at a touch from Rachel or a squeezed hand by Chloe.
After the retelling of the events of Haven Springs, the conversation had quickly moved on to a happier topic of what they’d been up to on their adventures or where the triad had been on theirs. It seemed none of them really stayed still for very long, but Max, Chloe and Rachel had made themselves a home to explore from, a safe place to always return to after their current adventure was complete. Alex and Steph just continued to adventure, to push ahead with no anchor to keep them in place but at times she had wondered if they would return to Haven Springs or find another place to call their home. As long as she was with Steph, she didn’t really mind what they might decide to do.
The rigidity of the conversations had soon broken away and Alex felt more at home, more like she was in the company of long time friends than people she’d just met. Steph’s shoes had been kicked off onto the floor while Rachel had put her feet up over Max’s legs. They’d become more entwined as the night wore on, usually after one of them had gotten up to get a refill for their beers. Alex had taken to leaning against Steph, who’d wrapped a protective arm around her shoulders. The warm glow and feelings of joy permeated the room, leaking into her very being as old stories were shared and joked about.
“So what happened to Arcadia Bay?” she asked after another joke had been told about the small town. A ripple seemed to cascade through Max as regrets seeped out of her mind.
“Freak storm,” Rachel said, taking a swig of beer. “They’ve rebuilt since, Blackwell is still accepting students but after the shit with Jefferson… it’s not really got the rep it had.”
All to save two people. She heard Max’s grief and couldn’t understand what it meant. Part of her wanted to be curious and discover what she meant, but she didn’t feel right trying to push Steph’s friend into their grief just to reveal more information.
“Jefferson?” she asked, then chastised herself internally. Idiot… let it go.
“He was a teacher there.” Rachel had visibly become uncomfortable with the conversation, almost recoiling inwards beside Max. “Abducted girls for his dirty little hobby.”
“Oh, shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.” Liar.
“It’s okay. You told us about Typhon and the shit they did to your family,” Rachel said, sitting up a little and giving Max’s hand a squeeze. “Max and Chloe… they saved me from it. They’re my saviours and I love them dearly for it.”
The warm glow of joy pushed away the sadness that had been pressing against her mind, giving way to a smile that reached her eyes. But Max’s dark cloud of sadness remained, and like a fool Alex shifted a little closer and moved her hand to tap into the storm, to try to understand. To help her in a way only she knew how.
Max’s eyes widened for a moment, her eyebrow arched, and almost in a flash it was like they knew one another more intimately. They both spoke at the same time;
“She has a power."