Chapter 44 - Moving Along

"EEEUUUAAAAHHHHHHH-AAAAAAHHHH!!!!!" I yawn and sit up off the floor.

 I surprisingly feel quite well-rested. I'm still in Nia's room. My cock is still out, but Nia's not here.. Nia opens the door in a purple shirt with her shoulder and bra straps exposed, paired with grey and black leggings with a swirly pattern. In her hands are two empty gallon jugs. Her eyes close in on my waist and I immediately form a pair of shorts and briefs over my waist, jumping out of the way of a tackle by Nia, causing her to stumble a bit before catching herself and starting at me with a pouting expression.

"Brother!!! Please?"

"No. You had enough last night. Speaking of last night, how are you feeling?"

"I feel good, but I would feel better if you gave me a few more..." More of what? Wait no, I don't want to know.

"Did you do anything to Gwen?" I can hear her breathing in the other room, and I can't smell blood, so hopefully good things.

"Not yet. She still hasn't gotten up yet. It seems like she wasn't made to take you, but she says she'll be fine." Nia replies, her face twitching between something like concern and a sneer. 

"You mean you won't do anything to Gwen, at all."

"I'm still thinking about it, but I noticed you've healed, so I might go light on my revenge." That's about as much as I can hope for, but now that Nia mentioned it, I have healed. Curious..

"Ok, what do you want to eat?" I ask, kissing her on the cheek and moving around her to get to the main bedroom.

"I'm good, you can just make food for Gwen. But the furniture delivery should be arriving any minute." 

"Don't start without me," I tell Nia as she blows me a kiss. I enter the main bedroom to find Gwen still wrapped up in covers on the makeshift blanket mattress while on her phone. 

"Good morning, Gazelle. How are you feeling? Did you sleep well?"

"I slept like a rock, woke up sore and lonely, and Nia almost gave me a heart attack this morning. How do you think I'm feeling?" She asks sarcastically with her eyebrows furrowed.

"I'm sorry—"

"I'm messing with you. I couldn't be happier. Though I am very sore and wouldn't have minded waking up with your arms around me. Nia just came in and gave me some of your clothes so I could wear them. She's not as mad as she tries to appear." Gwen says with a teasing smile. 

"You scared me for a second. Want anything for breakfast?"  I ask.

"Some tea would be nice, I don't think I can stomach anything else."

"Alright. I'll go do that then." I leave the door open and go to the kitchen where I grab some chai tea bags and fill two pots with water. 

I put my hands into the pots and attempt to perform the quantum entanglement trick once again, but before I can manipulate the Exterium in my hands, the reaction occurs, almost as if by instinct, causing one pot to boil violently and the other to freeze. The reaction stops when I get my mind to react. I pull my hands out from the pots to find them flickering slightly before returning to normal. I thoughtlessly try to make them flicker again and they do so more dramatically than before as if they were vibrating, but they aren’t. I've done all this before but it was much more tedious of a process. I'll look more into it later after I head over to ..the hub? ..facility? ..depot? I really need a name for that place.

I place down three tea glasses, steep the tea bags, and add some honey before Gwen comes in shuffling slowly, wrapped up in a big fluffy grey blanket. 

"Your tea is ready." I hand her one of the mugs with an exaggerated bow.

"Why thank you, my prince." She replies in turn, grabbing the mug and leaning against the counter next to me.

Nia comes in and Gwen hands her the remaining mug while I take a slow sip of my mug.

"So are you guys planning on going to school or are you guys going to rake in another absence?" I ask.

"It's a teacher holiday, so no school." Nia replies, walking to the other side of me and leaning her head against my shoulder.

I hear a truck pull up to the building and a conversation between furniture people downstairs.

"The furniture people are here. I'll go sign for it while Nia can clean up the area so we have room to put stuff. Gwen, don't do anything, I don't want you to trip." Nia reluctantly lets me go as I down my remaining tea and head out the door.

I take the elevator down and find three very fit men. They're clean-shaven and well, clean. Hard to describe, but they look a little too perfect for movers.

"Tyler Riddle?" One of them comes up to me with a clipboard.

"That would be me," I answer.

"Sign here please." I notice the circular rim of a tattoo hidden by his sleeve as he hands me the clipboard.

"I'll help you guys bring the stuff up." I sign the paperwork and hand it back over.

"Alright. We could always use the help, it makes the job go faster." The guy takes back the clipboard and puts it in the truck while the other two guys open the bay doors to the truck and start lowering things down.

As things start being unloaded, I help take smaller individual items in by myself, leaving the larger furniture to the other guys since that is their job and I don't want to appear too strong. You can never be too sure out in the open. 

Within a few hours, we moved everything inside the apartment in a decent layout. The men left and I spent another hour with Nia detailing things and taking things out of boxes, particularly appliances for the kitchen. I let Nia set up the electrical systems she ordered along with the LED light strips she got so she could 'set the mood.' 

Everything is in mostly neutral tones with a few splashes of color here and there. There are now beds for all the rooms with proper bed frames. The table I made was just moved to the dining room while a semi-modern sectional couch replaced it. Add all that with a couple of different bean bag chairs and a screen in every manor room for Cortana to appear on, we now live in some sort of mesh between a teen's fantasy and a modern home. But you know, it suits the personality of everyone here. 

Finally sick of messing with the place anymore, I form a few bottles of seltzer water and head over to the couch where Gwen is laying down on her stomach. I give her butt a little love tap before sitting down.

"OWW!!! Don't do that, it hurts." She yelps, holding her buns and looking at me with a hurt expression.

"Sorry. I won't do it again. Do you want a seltzer to name it up?"

"Just be gentler next time." She says, sitting up and grabbing a bottle out of my hand. 

"What do you want to watch?"

"Your pick. Are you really not going to bring up the fact that Nia now has a padlocked mini-fridge in her room?" She asks, turning to me.

"It's normal to have a mini-fridge in your room these days." I grab the remote and flip to a masterpiece of a movie known as Speed Racer. 

"I think you're intentionally avoiding things when it comes to Nia." She says, taking a sip of her drink and cozying up to me. 

"What about me?" Nia asks, coming into the room.

"Gwen says that I don't value how cute you are," I answer with a smile.

"Tyler, that is NOT true. Come sit Nia, we're watching a movie." Gwen says, slapping my shoulder playfully. 

"Cortana, can you order some Greek pizza?" I ask aloud.

"Yes Father, it will be here in roughly 40 minutes due to the excess of orders. I hope you know we do have work that needs to be done at the warehouse." Cortana's voice plays through the speakers as she overlays on the TV screen.

"I know, I'll head over once the movie is done."

"Don't make a girl a promise.. If you know you can't keep it." She says, disappearing. Maybe she's a little too much like her namesake.

"A warehouse full of girls…" Gwen says.

"Oh please, you're just looking for things to be mad about," I reply, hitting play and kicking my feet up on the Ottoman, paving the way for Nia to use me as a lap rest. I try to tune out as much of the background noise as I can and focus on the movie.

Beyond being a surreal and colorful racing movie, Street Racer is filled with comedic wonder, which is something I've been needing recently. I got lost in the movie and consequently, was rudely startled back into reality by knocking at the door.

"Hold on a second!" I shout, wiggling myself out from between Nia and Gwen, much to their discomfort. I walk over and open the front door to find a wavy blond-haired, blue-eyed girl in a red pizza delivery uniform. I would say the outfit looks cute except the one wearing it's Elizabeth Allan, the former girlfriend of Flash and recognized mean girl.

"Oh, it's you, Tyler. Funny meeting you here." She says joyfully.

"Why are you working for a pizza joint? Your family is well off isn't it?" 

"My parents took away my allowance after I quit the cheerleading team. So this is where you guys lived. I tried getting Nia to let me come over and stuff, but she's kinda protective about you."

"What about me? Wait, what are you doing here Liz? I thought I told you you couldn't come to my house." Nia says, coming up behind me.

"I got a part-time job. And I really don't see the problem anymore, Tyler's got a girlfriend now, you failed." Liz replies teasingly. 

"I did not fail.. I just changed plans. That's all." 

"Ok, can you guys be BFFs after I get my food? It's getting cold." I interrupt.

"What happened Tyler? We used to be good friends." Liz says, handing over the box with a receipt for me to sign.

"You and Nia are good friends. You were pretty mean to me and Peter back in 9th grade, and a little less so after that. Plus you went out with Flash and joined his merry group of assholes." I sign the receipt and hand it over.

"I was lightly teasing you. Peter just got in the way. And I asked you out three times, but you cut ties with me. But I can admit I could have chosen better, although the Thompsons are family friends."

"You flaked on me three separate times." 14-year-old Tyler was not a happy boy. 

"I told you I ran into trouble and that I was sorry." She retorts, dashing her eyes at Nia.

"Brother already knows, he's just messing with you," Nia says.

"Wait, so yyyou were telling the truth? I thought you were just hallucinating again when you said all that stuff." Liz stutters, going wide-eyed.

"Babe, come sit back down. Whoever it is can come in and watch the movie with us if they want." Gwen hollers from the couch.

"How about it?" I ask Liz.

"I've been wanting to quit my job, so yeah. Wait, hold on, you mean to say you're okay with Nia?" She sashays inside and whips her head around to face me, causing her hair to smack me in the face.

"Nope, I have lots of problems with it, but I'm making the best out of a bad situation."

"But—"

"You're the Senior mean girl aren't you?" Gwen asks.

"I'm not that mean."

"Listen, Liz, I'm going to ignore the fact that you probably aided and abetted Nia with her antics. I honestly don't want to know all the details, it's getting a bit much for me. So I'll make you a deal, I will give you two slices of pizza and all you have to do is postpone the drama for a later date" I open the pizza box and show the pizza like it's a briefcase of cash.

"Only two slices? You can do better than that." Liz pouts.

"I'm not sharing anymore pizza."

"Pfft, you're being ridiculous. I just want to hang out every now and again, like old times."

"Mmmm…"

"Come on, I'm lonely since MJ has been hanging out with Peter. Plus, I'll spread your nude photos if you don't stop being so hesitant."

"Why.. why would you have nude photos of me?" I ask, pinching the bridge of my nose.

"I may have accidentally given her the wrong USB when I shared my statistics homework with her," Nia admits.

"Sure, whatever Liz, I have to leave after the movie, but you can stick around if you want. Just please keep Nia out of her room later." I tell her. 

"Babe, I'm restarting the movie for your new friend." Gwen tells me. 

I swear, it feels like I'm being dragged into things all the time. 

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*CLACK*

I close the front door, leaving the girls to paint their nails. Do I dislike Elizabeth? No, she may be a mean girl, but she's not evil, it's mostly just sass. I'm just kinda blown away by the fact that Nia has a genuine friend, or what I would consider one to be. My first thought when I realized Nia's feelings was that she just manipulated everyone, but now I'm starting to see that despite all the time we've spent together over the years, I've only known her cute side around me. Deeper conversations with her are definitely needed if I can ever get her to be honest.

"Tyler, I need your help." I hear Matt say from his apartment. 

"Ok. You know this communication feels weird." I respond aloud.

"Yeah, but it's not much different from using a phone, is it? The door's unlocked when you get here." I make my way down to Matt's apartment and open the door to find him lying shirtless on the couch, all bruised and cut up while the TV plays on.

"You look like you had fun last night," I smirk.

"It was early this morning actually. I was investigating a small biker gang in Manhattan and I got ambushed by another group, they smelled like iron and wood, so they must have been construction workers or something. I need you to help bandage me up, I ran out of supplies." He says, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"There must have been a lot of people for you to get this bad. Do you need my help with any of it?" I ask, producing some alcohol and splashing it over most of his body. The big wounds are on his torso and forearms, but there are many tiny cuts that could get infected as well.

"Easy, easy—Nope, I'm good. I got what I needed already, but an excuse to get off work would be appreciated." He grunts

"Just say you got mugged. You live in Harlem, so it isn't too uncommon." After drying his skin, I form some medical wrap and bandage the largest wounds. They're not deep cuts, but they could easily get worse if they aren't treated 

"I already used that excuse a month ago."

"You could always tell them the truth."

"I can't tell my best friends and colleagues that I've been lying to them for who knows how long."

"Yeah, Peter still doesn't talk to me like before. But even if he never talked to me again at all, I'd still tell him what I could. You're probably in a better position to confess than I am, and if you don't, what does that make your friendship with Foggy and Karen?"

"I'll think about it. How's your love life going?"

"It's a lot of headaches, but I'm managing it little by little. I just feel like I don't know Nia as well as I want to."

"Have you considered getting her treatment? Sexual and psychological disorders like hers are rare, but they're still treatable."

"Similar things do happen, but even extreme cases of sexual disorders aren't as bad as hers. It's been going on for so long, that it's ingrained in her psyche. The only real option for her is to go to an insane asylum. She'd probably suffer withdrawals and kill somebody, then I might never get her back home, and even if she did get out, she wouldn't be the same, Nia. I can't do that to her. There are alternatives, plus she's already becoming more open. That's a start."

"I suppose you're right. Have you been keeping up with the news?"

"No, not recently."

"Check CNN, they should be airing a piece you might find interesting." I grab the remote and switch the channel to CNN.

"Good morning, and welcome back to CNN Newsroom with me, Poppy Harlow, and my fellow Co-host, Jim Scutio. Jim, you said you wanted to bring to light a concerning trend that's been growing recently?"

"Yes, Poppy. As you know, we've had a lot of startling news recently, with the emergence of the supposed mad hero that people have startled calling the Harbinger along with the reveal of the pharmaceutical billionaire, Norman Osborn as the self-named, Green Goblin."

"And we're still waiting for the results of his trial, though it's looking like things might be more complex than we thought initially."

"I actually want to focus on some of the smaller, less covered events as a whole that have been happening or at least have been seeing the light of day following the battle of the Green Goblin and the Harbinger. There's been a lot of reports of people using superhuman abilities, and while we don't know how many of these reports are true, we do know that these incidents are happening at an increased rate, not just in New York, but all over the world, though it's mostly in the U.S. People's perspectives of the world are changing."

"What kinds of incidents do you mean Jim?"

"Often it's vigilantes taking the law into their own hands, but we're seeing a slight increase in criminals with supernatural abilities. But people are scared, Poppy, and the government needs to address this, but so far they’ve been silent. Meanwhile, just this morning, a man was fighting an entire biker gang in New York, and he was fighting while blindfolded! That kind of stuff blows peoples' minds, it even blows my mind!"

"Well, I think a big part of it is that certain information just isn't popularized with the public. We were lucky to have Dr.Doofenshmirtz on the show earlier to explain some of the fringe sciences that could be responsible for some of the events we've seen recently."

"Yes, but ultimately society has to do something. People have to do something. I don't know what it is, but I just want people to think about it. Hopefully, people don't choose to join the hate groups or the cults giving worship to everything going on."

*CLACK*

"That's enough of that. Chaos has always been going on, but people mostly ignored it. And now they can't, I am glad to see that panic hasn't been too bad." I tell Matt, turning off the TV.

"Yeah, but it'll only get worse."

"Local chaos makes good business for a lawyer," I tell him.

"The world needs people like us to look out for the masses."

"Trust me, I'm working on helping them every way I can, within reason of course. The Harbinger huh? I don't know about it as a name, but I kinda like it as a title." 

"That's a very pompous title for somebody who can't beat a blind man in a boxing match" He laughs.

"That I can not deny."

"Alright, I won't keep you, have a good one. Just don't get knocked out by Nia again." He jokes.

"See ya." I exit Matt's apartment and clack the door closed. I gotta hurry up to get to my work so I can get something done during daylight hours.

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