"I'M SORRY, ONE MORE TIME?" Nicky rubbed his temples, everyone gathered around his computer screens to listen to the explanation given from one of the X-Men, nearly all of them incredibly confused, the psychologist especially.

"So..." the teenager began, glancing over towards Terran, "Did you know that the guy who was after you was in cahoots with someone who could dimension jump?"

Terran took a sip from his juice box, shaking his head. "I did not, in fact, care to elaborate in, you know, English?"

"That's not even your first language," Rhett pointed out, and the man simply shushed him, pointing towards the teenager who was rolling their eyes, waiting for them to listen.

Finally, they continued. "So, basically, your entire complex was targeted and was used as a test subject to try and go to another dimension and wreak havoc there, since all the universes have this—You know what, just take my word for it that it's a good thing they didn't continue with those trials. Your complex is currently in...they're not necessarily in another dimension, because what's happened was they caused a shift in time, since it's not necessarily linear, there are multiple outcomes that can be made of various actions. Rhett, you're a time traveler, of sorts, you know what I'm talking about."

The blond nodded. "Yeah. Like, I bought those Christmas lights for Nicky, that means someone didn't get theirs. Same with that Target plush. But they're not running into past versions of themselves?"

"No, because they're fiddling with that idea that, you know, time isn't necessarily—that it all kind of—take my word for it, they're not caught in an infinite paradox, they're just trapped in this glitch caused by the attempt to send them to another dimension, moving through time in a—just take my word for it, they're okay because they can like travel within the time they're in, but no one can see them or really remember them or anything because of the loop they're trapped in—I'm not a scientist, I don't actually know how this works, I just jump around and help fight." The teenager dropped their head into their hands, groaning with frustration at their inability to accurately explain what they couldn't even understand.

"You're okay," Nicky said soothingly, "It's okay, we understand, and we believe you. Trust me, you're not the first person to not understand how time works." He glanced over to Rhett who was looking at the teenager with a sympathetic smile. "Do you know how we could get them back?"

The teenager rubbed their eyes. "No, not as of now. I could learn, though, I think this'll just take a lot of research and underground digging. Because they had to have learned how to make the machine and try to make the jumps from somewhere, which means someone must know something."

Nicky whistled lowly. "Well, if it's somewhere on the internet or is connected to something on the internet, I can find it."

Sam snorted. "How humble."

Nicky turned in his chair to stare at him, unblinking and unmoving. "I hacked into every surveillance camera in the entire state and connected it to a tiny tracker that was injected into the body of a teenage boy, which could check his vitals and transmit his his words and what he could hear in real time to a pair of earrings that had holographic interactive software imbedded, more advanced than what Tony Stark has right now. Don't even test me. If there's one thing I know I'm good at, it's this. And listening to people, I'm pretty good with that."

Sam smiled and shared a look with Rhett, who smiled back, the two of them thinking the same thing; this was as close to Nicky saying that he knew himself, or at least something about himself. It wasn't perfect, but it was close enough.

"So we've just gotta do more research and searching," Nicky said, shrugging, "But they're okay?"

The teenager nodded. "Unless I'm completely wrong, they're totally fine. I'm sure they're probably freaked out, but after five years...they're probably used to it."

Nicky took a deep breath and sighed, nodding, glancing back towards Terran who was furrowing his eyebrows, deep in thought, then over at the others who were just as invested, Steve with a hand over his mouth and Sam with his arms crossed over his chest. Rhett was looking at him, trying to share his concern.

"Thanks, guys," Nicky said, turning back towards the screens, "We'll be in touch. Thank you."

"No worries, Mr. Green," the teenager said, and with that, the call was ended.

Nicky turned around to face the four men behind him. "So. I guess more work?"

Sam nodded. "At least you know they're okay, though, I mean," he looked over at Rhett and Terran as well, "You guys are probably relieved to hear that."

Terran set his juice box down carefully, speaking in an almost monotonous tone, "I honestly might cry, this is the most relief I've felt in so long, I am so happy."

"Yeah," Rhett agreed, with significantly more life in his words, "I mean, they're alive. Now all we have to do is get them back home safe and make sure they're more than okay. At least, you know, as much as we can help them with."

Steve nodded, speaking up, "How exactly are we going to do this? Interdimensions, that sounds something more up Thor's alley than us, though I can't really speak for Rhett."

"You sound like you're up Thor's alley," Sam mumbled lowly, and Steve nearly kicked his chair out from under him.

Rhett's eyes lit up. "Wait, what about Thor?"

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose. "Let's talk about this later. Nicky, do you have any ideas?"

The man bit his lip. "I think...Terran, can you tell me who was after you? I can start searching from there. But you really need to disclose with me at this point, I'm sorry."

The older man nodded, taking a deep breath. "Okay. Can I have a minute, though, I'm not...it's going to take me a minute to be okay to say it, if you don't mind."

Nicky nodded. "Yeah, of course, take your time. I'm sorry, I wouldn't be asking this if it wasn't necessary." It was strange to have to see Terran struggling with his feelings; the man couldn't feel them as freely as he came across, so seeing him have to struggle to feel what he wanted to was hard to watch.

Terran shushed him, shaking his head, making his way out of the room. "I'm not your patient, Nicky, I'm your friend. Don't apologize."

Nicky bit his lip, nodding, remembering all the times Terran would tell him to "quit apologizing," forcing himself not to apologize for apologizing.

He turned towards Steve, motioning to his beard and hair, which was now a dark blond, bordering on brown; he always referred to Steve as a blond, because old habits died hard. "You really grew it out, huh? You still keeping up with Bucky?"

Steve nodded, glancing over to Rhett. "Yeah. I might-I might head back over, since I heard they made a lot of progress. Um..."

Nicky glanced over at Rhett who was staring at his hands, mumbling words that sounded much too young to have been thought of then.

"You know," Nicky said, motioning to Sam, "You two should talk this out. We'll be outside."

With that, the two left them alone, finding Terran on the couch, asleep or in thought.

"Rhett can't go with him because he has work, school's still in session, Midtown High stays in for a while too," Nicky sighed, and Sam nodded knowingly.

"Steve told me that when they were kids, Rhett was really jealous of Bucky, 'cause Steve like him more," the older man said, "You think that stuck?"

Nicky shrugged. "Rhett wouldn't make him choose. But I'm sure he feels a little threatened. They bonded over their history, but with Bucky awake...no, Rhett wouldn't think like that. Or he would, but wouldn't act on it."

Sam hummed. "It's been about a year since all that stuff went down."

Nicky shrugged. "We're making it work. It's not the same as what you used to have, but maybe we're okay."

Sam smiled down at him, then flicked his gaze over towards the closed door. "You sure you want them in your room, on your bed, alone?"

Nicky took a deep breath, images flashing through his mind. "If it's going to help the process, I'll live with it. I needed to change the sheets anyways."

The two laughed softly, pretending like there wasn't a looming sense of pain above them all. There was something off about the entire situation, and it filled Nicky's stomach with dread, as if everyone was going to leave.

"Nicky," Terran called out, "You still want his name?"

Nicky nodded, walking over towards him, Sam not far behind.

He would think about that later. For now, he would avoid it with searching, like he always did.

º º º

It was a few days later, and Nicky was in his room. He had been making steady process with his search, at a steady, barely increasing pace, and his patience was wearing thin.

The past few days, Terran had been trying to liven spirits, Rhett and Steve in a quieter, more intimate state as they dealt with Steve's plans to visit—not leave, he had made it very clear to all, especially the roommates, that he would be coming back—and Sam having needed his space for some time, telling Nicky not to drop by; he just needed his time.

But he was back now, tired, but trying, sitting in the living room with the others, trying to laugh and smile; he was able to pick himself back up a lot faster once he was able to get going.

Nicky puffed out his cheeks, his eyes straining as he looked at the screens, trying to sift through pages and pages of search results that haven't resulted in him finding anything but dead ends and frustration.

He groaned, dropping his head into his hands, thinking back to when he first ran into the complex in the first place.

○ ○ ○

He was fiddling with one of his newer makes, having desperately wanted the same contraption Dumbledore had in the first Harry Potter book. He thought it would be fun to try and make something that could put out streetlights or, potentially, other electric-powered devices. Similar to the universal remote, like in Home Alone, but better.

So he had snuck out.

No one had caught him, and no one had really cared to begin with, not even when he spent a few minutes outside of the house next door, which still hadn't been moved into, trying to see if he could use the small pointer—he made it similar to a wand, because he thought it would be funny—to turn the lights back on. It had taken a lot of fiddling on his part, messing with the intensity and frequency, but he had managed to turn on the dining room lights.

He stood there for a few minutes, just imaging that they were having dinner, but with their curtains drawn this time, imaging that he could see their silhouettes through the curtains, pretending to hear their laughter through the window; he could always hear it through his.

He finally pried himself away after he heard a dog bark, turning off the lights and heading off quickly. They were dead now, there was nothing he could do about it.

He made his way down the neighborhood, turning the streetlights on and off, just smiling at the fact that he could. But then he thought. He did want to do exactly what Dumbledore had, he might as well do him justice.

Making his way back, he started at the end of the street and turned off the lights, keeping them off. All the electronics in the homes were still on, but the lights outside were off. He made his way down the entire street, turning them off and trying not to be seen, reveling in the pure darkness he was creating.

The statement was much more poetic and macabre than he actually meant it to be.

As he made his way down the street, he thought back to all the times he had messed with other contraptions around the cities. He had gone into Manhattan and caused some mischief there, fiddling with some of the smaller billboards, making them glitch out and scare people. He had even gone so far as Brooklyn, messing around with audio controllers, though that hadn't been as successful as he wanted it to be.

He shuddered, remembering that woman who had been staring at him in front that building that he couldn't quite focus on. There was something off about all of it, because she kept turning back towards the building, like there was someone inside—part of him thought it was run-down, but he could see that it wasn't.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he failed to notice the figure standing at the end of the street until he paused to look at the last lights and saw her, his scream echoing through the empty streets.

The figure raced towards him, shushing him softly with a hand over his mouth, grabbing his device and shutting off the last of the lights. She forced him to stand still, the two waiting until the lights in the houses shut off and people returned back to their beds.

"Hi," the woman whispered, and Nicky could hear her smile, "My name's Charlotte. You're Nicholas Green, right?"

He stuttered and stammered, too afraid to actually reply, but she didn't actually need his response, continuing easily, "Why were you standing outside that house for so long, Nicholas Green."

He struggled to find his voice, breathing out a hoarse, "My dad killed that family."

She nodded, frowning. "That doesn't sound too nice. Did you know them?"

He shook his head. "I wanted to. I wanted their family more than I wanted mine."

That seemed to be the answer she was looking for, as she smiled at him, which he could only barely see in the darkness of the night. "Would you like a better family?"

Nicky's mind raced. "Are you going to kidnap me?"

She shook her head, her laugh filling the silence of the night. "Of course not, that's cruel. I'm offering you something. There are some people I know you've noticed that you're kind of a whiz with the gadgets. They looked more into you and saw that you're pretty alone. Do you want to not be alone?"

He stammered. "Who are you?"

She just kept smiling. "Remember that building in Brooklyn where you saw me first? I know you do, they told me that you knew. Go back there tomorrow, and I'll introduce you."

With that, she left, disappearing into the night and leaving Nicky to stand there, jumping at the sound of a gunshot, wondering if it had been a good idea to turn off the lights.

º º º

He went to visit the next day, too curious not to, every fiber of his being screaming at him to make better decisions, but he couldn't help himself, he really wanted to know.

The prospect of getting away was too great.

"Charlotte?" he called out, standing in front of the building, wondering if he was being silly. He could see it perfectly now, and he couldn't figure out why he had thought it was run down; it was perfectly standing.

The door to the building opened to reveal Charlotte with a few people standing behind her. A woman with a neutral, calculating expression, and a man with a bright smile and lively eyes.

"Nicholas," she greeted, motioning for him to come inside, "Welcome to the complex."

º º º

Nicky's mind whirred as he was introduced to the "heads" of the complex, learning that Charlotte didn't live with them, but helped them on occasion if she noticed someone who might be one of them. It turned out that they were incredibly shocked to find he wasn't a mutant or some other individual with some past that made them a little more—or a little less—than the average human.

He had told them his story, feeling very much like their meeting was a mix between a job interview and a therapy session, getting everything out in such detail that he felt like he was walking on air by the end of it, as he never spoke that much.

Charlotte spoke first. "Have you heard the expression, 'you can never go home?'"

He nodded, shrugging, "Sometime in class. Why?"

She gave him a sad smile, barely sparing a glance towards the two members of the complex who were looking at him with such great sympathy. "Do you know what it means?"

He shrugged again, feeling oddly indifferent, despite his constant need to be liked. "I didn't really pay attention."

She laughed at that—she laughed a lot—before saying, "It means that you can never truly relive the past. You can try as hard as you can, but things will be different and you just have to keep moving forward."

He licked his lips, feeling uncomfortably vulnerable. "What's that have to do with me?"

She looked over towards the others then, and they nodded, as if all coming to an agreement.

"It means that you can choose to hold on, or to move on. Don't keep looking back, or else you'll miss everything that's in front of you."

○ ○ ○

Nicky sighed as he pushed his chair back, staring at his computer screens, his mind racing through every memory, every update, every word.

He took a deep breath, almost unable to breathe, staring at his screens. What was he doing?

He looked towards his door where he heard the sound of the four men laughing just outside, and he wondered why he was desperately searching when he could be out there.

Everyone was okay. That was all he needed.

Reaching out, he closed out of all the tabs and shut off all his computers, watching every screen turn to black.

Silence.

He made his way out of his room, closing the door behind him, looking at the four men who looked back at him with varying degrees of affection and concern.

"How's the search?" Terran asked, but he didn't seem too eager to jump on and hear.

Nicky moved to sit, trying to smile. "There's no rush."

Terran grinned at him, with a smile so bright that it rivaled Nicky's usual own. "I'm glad you figured it out."

Nicky truly smiled then. Brighter than a grin, a true smile. A smile of pure understanding and peace. Because he figured this out. At the very least, he figured this out.

He turned towards Rhett and Steve, raising an eyebrow. "You already figured it out, huh?"

Rhett shrugged. "I didn't think I could force you into it. Besides, it's okay to miss your family. I would if I remembered mine."

Nicky raised his hand from staring at his hands, giving him a small smile. "But you're my family."

Nicky reached out towards Rhett, the man taking his hand easily. He looked to Terran who immediately held out his large hand. Sam and Steve got the same idea, Sam tugging Nicky to his side, and Steve squeezed his shoulder.

Nicky thought to all the people in his life. The ones that came and went, the ones who came and stayed. They were all his family, and he'd always want them around.

But he was fine where he was. More than fine. He was perfectly okay.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Second to last chapter, I'm quaking and crying.

Meet Charlotte Burns, she's gonna be in my Bucky fic, if ya'll saw the post in my MISC book a while back, you'll meet her soon, don't worry. And in her story, the complex narrative arc will be completed, so keep an eye out for that, as well as Rhett's story.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!