"Alex, over here!" Evelyn waved at Alex and gestured to the empty seat next to her.
Alex smiled and sunk into the free chair. He tucked his backpack under the seat in front of him, "Thanks."
Evelyn smiled, there was something awkard about the way her lips curved. She looked out the window, trying so hard to act casually that it was obvious she was pretending, "So your folks are okay now? With the whole wolf thing, I'm so sorry I didn't know it was-"
Alex smiled and shook his head. He ran a hand through his hair, "It's all good now, they gave me a hug and told me they loved me. They also said to call them first thing if I get attacked by any other wolves."
The conversations back home after the restaurant last night had been pretty much dominated by one thing. Watching your son grow a third arm out of his neck and blitz about the room like a ghost was a lot to take in for any parent.
Alex leaned past Evelyn and pressed his face against the window. He spotted his parents stood holding hands and waving goodbye as the bus pulled off. He waved back and watched his mum mouth the words I love you.
Evelyn sighed with relief, her shoulders slackened and she slumped back in the chair, "Phew, my folks were shitting themselves the whole night that you'd not want to be friends with me or something anymore.
They've got a bit of a crush on your parents too you know. They don't have that many friends."
Alex laughed, "The feeling's mutual don't worry. Pretty sure my mum'll be texting yours by the end of today."
The coach ride home was pleasantly uneventful. Alex listened to music and chatted to Evelyn. He was also quietly populating his nervous system with more rapid-conduction bundles. The pain when his focus slipped or a connection went wrong barely bothered him anymore.
'At this rate it's gonna take more like a year.' Alex thought to himself.
The accelerated motion project had come along by leaps and bounds. He'd managed to create enough nodules to reach 2.5 speed. He'd also encountered his first major obstacle.
The strain that moving that quickly placed on his heart and lungs was simply too overwhelming. Two times speed already required him to use his powers to constantly repair the damage he was doing to his body. At two and a half times speed the delicate balance between cell death and repair tilted started to tilt towards the former.
He'd loosely speculated at a two month timeline on building the unique nodules. That timeline was simply hopeless.
To build a body capable of sustaining five times human top speed, fifty meters per second, required a tip to toe redesign. There were just too many problems to sort out.
Blood didn't behave like a liquid when it was suddenly throw against artery walls at 25 meters per second. He needed to create a new kind of cardiac muscle that could contract forcefully enough to overcome the g-force that high speed exerted. Then he needed to completely overhaul his circulatory system so that his vessels didn't burst under such enormous pressure.
Every problem led him to a dozen more. For some of them he could draw on existing animal biology to engineer creative solutions. Insects had air holes called spiracles that ran laterally down their bodies. These spiracles allowed them to take in great quantities of oxygen without requiring complex respiratory system like humans.
He had begun experimenting, on a small-scale with engineering similar small openings in his skin. Progress had been slow, but he felt confident that when he succeeded he'd be able to deliver oxygen far more rapidly to the peripheral portions of his body
There were a dozen different modifications to be made at any one moment. The journey took a couple hours, but Alex was never bored. The human body was an entire universe waiting to be explored. To Evelyn, her seatmate was simply immersed in the music from his earbuds.
The boxing team filed off the bus and assembled into a circle. They all stretched their stiff necks and shoulders. The head coach addressed the team, "Thank you everyone for your hard work. Every single one of you did yourselves and your team proud! Have a good rest!"
The head coach paused. A grin crept onto his face, "See you tomorrow for training!"
The group produced a mixture of groans and laughter. Alex said goodbye to Evelyn and a few other friends and started walking back towards his dorm.
"Hey Alex!"
Alex turned around. Jason was jogging after him.
He smiled, "Hey captain."
Jason snorted and bumped Alex's shoulder with his fist, "We both know that it should be me calling you captain."
Jason looked back at the circle of boxers standing and chatting. He sighed and smiled, "Look, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for being a dick. I was jealous and I just wanted to beat you.
But you're a great guy and a damn good boxer. Your captain should've been proud of your progress not hoping you'd get hit by a bus or something."
He looked Alex in the eyes. His voice was geniune, "I'm sorry man, I really am."
The statement was heartfelt. Alex had never resented the mens captain. He'd seen the angry glances and heard whispers of how harshly Jason criticised his form to the coaches, but he'd never taken it to heart.
His arrival to the boxing team was like a shooting star landing in your backyard. He had powers, Jason didn't. The kind of all-around improvement to his physical fitness that optimizing his body had given him couldn't be achieved by training alone.
He'd put in the work to learn how to box. His enhanced hippocampus and slightly modified muscle cells built muscle memory faster than any ordinary human could, but he still needed practice to embed the movements.
He'd only put on a pair of boxing gloves a couple of months. No one who saw him in the ring would ever believe that.
Alex slowly extended his fist to strike Jason's shoulder. The same gesture the captain had done to him. He grinned, "No hard feelings man, I get it. If someone turned up at my house and started hugging my parents, I'd be pretty pissed too. I get it, I do."
Jason smiled and nodded, "It's almost annoying how perfect you are."
Alex grinned, "Don't hate the player hate the game. See you at practice tomorrow."
The dorm room was exactly as he'd left it. Alex threw open the window and tossed a clementine he'd left in the sun into the bin. The fruit had hardened and shrivelled up in the sunlight.
He pulled out his phone. A text from Taylor sat unopened in his inbox. He smiled and read it.
"Missed you :0. You back yet?"
The text was short and funny. Since their date last friday he'd been texting Taylor every day. They didn't message constantly, usually once in the morning and once in the evening, but the exchanges always made him smile.
"Wanna go get ice cream?" He texted back.
Three dots immediately popped up to show that Taylor was typing. "Meet you there ^-^!"
He smiled and slid his phone into his back pocket. It was evening and the air was starting to get cold. He liked the feeling of the breeze against his skin, the cold didn't bother him anymore, but having a jacket to offer your crush seemed like a smart romantic move.
"Hey Mr light-heavyweight champion of some town in Detroit I can't remember the name of!" Taylor said with a smile.
Alex grinned and hugged her. He lifted her up easily in the hug and teased, "Hey miss I-can't reach the peanut butter."
Taylor laughed and headbutted him lightly, "Okay you win, put me down you big muscled lunatic."
Alex smiled and lowered her back down. Taylor clicked her tongue and turned to the window of the icream shop to adjust her now messed up hair.
She sighed, "Chilvary is dead!"
Alex rolled his eyes and stepped into the shop. He ordered two scoops of bubblegum for himself. He turned back to Taylor and asked, "And for the lady?"
Taylor scanned the flavours with a focused look in her eyes. After a few seconds she decided, "The lady will have a scoop of strawberry and a scoop of chocolate."
The two walked out the store holding their tubs of ice cream. Taylor put a spoonful of strawberry into her mouth. She looked at Alex eating his bubblegum flavoured ice cream and asked amusedly, "You know that only kids like bubblegum flavour ice cream right? You look about seven."
Alex shrugged and had another spoonful, "Pretty tall seven year old."
Taylor rolled her eyes. It was almost impossible to get a rise out of Alex. He seemed to exist solely in a calm and put-together state of being. It hit her suddenly that the same guy who'd fought off a wolf-fox hybrid to save a class of schoolchildren was now eating a bright purple frozen desert by her side.
Taylor finished her ice cream first and tossed the tub into a trash can. She swallowed and linked up her arm with Alex's. It was the first time she'd ever done that.
Alex's hand delivering ice cream to his mouth didn't pause. He seemed to be entirely unaware of the change. Taylor's excitement dipped, she hadn't expected Alex to profess his undying love or anything but she'd thought maybe-
The arm linked to hers moved. The hand that was nearly twice the size of hers gently squeezed against her palm. Their fingers interlinked.
Alex smiled and looked across at Taylor. The height difference meant he had to look down slightly, "Your hands seemed cold."
Taylor beamed and nodded contently, "They were."
Neither of them discussed where they were walking. The trees were changing colour and the breeze rustled the branches. Leaves span about in the air and fell gracefully to the ground. Alex brushed off a yellow leaf that landed in Taylor's hair.
They walked together for nearly an hour. Sometimes chatting, sometimes just enjoying each other's presence and watching the leaves fall. They ended up back at Taylor's dorm.
Alex leaned against the door frame and smiled, "Good night."
The door was open and Taylor stood inside the room. She smiled, "Good night, thanks for the ice cream."
Taylor's palm on the door handle was sweaty. She wondered if he'd lean in and kiss her. The idea sent tingles down her spine.
She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the finger tap against her forehead. She instinctively looked up.
A soft pair of lips pressed themselves gently against her own. It wasn't a fiery or passionate kiss, just a gentle one that said good night.
It was the first kiss she'd dreamed about when she first met Alex.
Alex pulled back slowly. He smiled and waved goodbye, "See you tomorrow."
Taylor watched him walk away. She didn't shut the door until she stopped hearing his fading footsteps.
She threw her arms into the air and fell backwards. Her bed caught her softly.
"Oh my god."
Alex walked back to his dorm thinking about the kiss. The look on Taylor's face afterwards made him feel like he'd won the lottery. He'd felt the vibe was right and gone for it. He was relieved that it looked like he'd made the right choice.
The water in the shower took a while to heat up. Alex stood under the cold water, letting it run down his shoulders. He felt it gradually turn hot. He squirted out a dollop of peach shampoo, he'd taken an extra bottle from the cupboard back home.
The kiss hadn't needed superpowers. He hadn't leaped into a burning building or stopped a train from careering off the tracks. In that moment it hadn't mattered how strong or fast he was. All that mattered was him and the woman stood behind that door who made him laugh every day.
Alex had told his parents about his powers. He could feel himself falling for Taylor. They'd only been on one date, he didn't want to overwhelm her or scare her off, but he knew in this moment that he needed to tell her.
He could keep the secret for a little longer. He could wait till they'd been dating for a few more weeks. But he couldn't bear the thought of lying to her. He wanted to trust her and he wanted her to trust him. Trust wasn't supposed to be built around secrets. He hoped that when the time came that she would understand why he hadn't told her sooner.
Alex knew that it wasn't rational. The fewer people knew about his powers, the longer he'd be able to go without exposing them to the world. He didn't care. Humans weren't meant to be governed by pure unsentimental rationality. Making a decision on emotion wasn't weakness, sometimes it was the strength to be vulnerable. To stand in front of someone and tell them what was in your heart, knowing that it could bring horror or rejection.
Alex saw his powers as a part of him. He didn't know why they appeared or if they served some great or terrible purpose. He simply knew that they were his. He didn't want to live his life thinking that the only reason he mattered was because he had powers.
His family kept him grounded. They made him realise that he was so much more. He didn't want an identity that revolved around his powers. He wanted an identity that revolved around the child his parents had raised to be kind and patient.
Alex dried off and got into bed. The blankets were soft and comfortable. They were still the same ones his parents had gotten him when he moved in. Whenever he had to use his spare sheets and duvet instead while his Michigan print ones were in the wash, he always felt like he was missing a part of himself.
He exhaled deeply. He'd scanned every section of his brain for some special gland or lobe that might explain the source of his powers. Every search came up with nothing.
The lack of any available biological evidence had lead him to a different train of thought. Perhaps his powers hadn't emerged from his physical body. Science had solved thousands of mysteries, but it had barely scratched the surface of consciousness.
When his powers first manifested, it had felt like using a brand new kind of muscle. He'd thought that the muscle was tucked away, hidden somwhere in his brain. He'd realised slowly that his powers didn't act from any particular location. The only reason he'd first thought that they originated from inside his skull, was because that was where nearly every human being assumed consciousness was.
Thoughts could be heard as if an invisible person was speaking them aloud. The mind could impose unspoken words onto reality. Thinking about this made Alex feel how tremendously his modifications, however impressive they seemed, paled in the face of the unseen mechanisms that dictated reality.
He closed his eyes and willed his powers to begin modifying the cells in his heart. He watched over the changes as if he were the creator of some new race. The changes that improved cardiac function were kept and allowed to proliferate. Harmful or useless changes were categorised and used to guide further modification.
The process continued late into the night.