Issue 1 Downtime

Ben took a seat at a table, setting his tray down. Where he had been holding it had deformed slightly.

Ben was glowing. It had started off benignly enough, a low level glow he couldn't turn off. Now he was looking fairly bright and things were starting to heat up. Literally.

His currently plan was to wear a lot of black and hope no one noticed. In a school full of mutants and instructors trained to notice things.

It was a brilliant plan. Ben was very proud of it.

Alex sat down across from Ben, his oh so healthy (read: pizza and cheeseburgers) lunch on his tray, a large caffeinated drink in his hand. "Hey, Ben," he said, his late-morning countenance speaking of a night that had probably gone on too long playing video games that kept his roommate awake with explosions.

"Morning Alex," Ben says, still managing to sound disgustingly chipper, "How've you been?"

"Eh, pretty good. Enjoying being myself again," he said, before taking a long drink of his soda.

"Could you turn down the glare a little bit? Too early for things to be that bright."

Ben looks a bit embarrassed, "Sorry. I'm sort of....well, stuck."

"Stuck? I... oh. Well... ok, don't lose the glare, then," Alex allowed, not sure what else to say.

"Sorry," Ben says, "I know it's sort of annoying. If you want, I can go sit somewhere else."

"What? No! Cut that out, it's not that bad," Alex answered, feeling a little bad for bringing it up now.

"Okay," Ben says, "But just tell me if it's too much, alright? 'Cause it's been getting worse all morning."

"Maybe it just seems like that because you're wearing black?" Alex suggested. "Makes the glow stand out more?"

"You think?" Ben says, "I was wearing black 'cause I thought it'd cover it up."

"Not really working," Haley said cheerfully, plopping down next to him. "But who the fuck cares--everyone has bad power days. Just let me know if you're going to explode or something so I can put up a TK bubble around Alex and me."

"I'll do my dang best," Ben says, "...Sorry for the language."

"Have you, ah, talked to anyone about it yet?" Alex asked, slightly nervously.

"I don't want to be a bother," Ben says, "Besides, it's not that bad."

Ben tries to eat a spoonful of cereal but immediately spits it out.

"Blech. Hot milk."

"Hot? Where did you ge-" And that was when Alex noticed the warped tray. "That isn't 'not that bad.' How're your clothes not singed?"

"Heck if I know," Ben says, "I'm guessing it has something to do with heat rising."

"How long's this been going on?" Alex asked, looking concerned.

"People here are kinda good at helping. And you like..,don't want to explode."

"Well...I don't want you to explode at least..."

"Just since last night," Ben says, "And I'm pretty sure it's harmless."

That's when a napkin catches fire.

"Shit!" Alex started turning to iron, reaching across the table and grabbing the napkin, crushing it into his (non-flammable) hand before anything else could catch fire from it. "Anything different about last night?"

"Oh, dang, I'm real sorry," Ben says, "No. Nothing out of the normal, y'know?"

"I think you should probably talk to Ms. K or Mr. Gabriel, or like, any of the teachers before you melt or set more things on fire, dude."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Ben admits.

"They're both pretty cool one on one. And Ms K probably already adores how little you cuss," she smirked.

"But really...it's cool. We all have issues. Do you know how much shit I've broken this year with my brain?"

"I guess I'm just a little worried 'cause I heard if you can't get your powers under control, they ship you off to a mutant prison on some island," Ben says, "I know that sounds silly and all, but...ya gotta wonder what they do with the dangerous mutants, right?"

Haley choked on her orange juice, trying not to chuckle.

"Dude, no. That's if you like...do it on purpose, repeatedly. I've screwed up lots. If they sent us to prison for that, it'd be pretty fucking crowded."

"You're having a bad power day, you're not, like, a criminal or anything," Alex said, jumping on the 'defend Ben' bandwagon.

Ben smiles, "Thanks. That really does help you guys."