Adrian

August, 21
New York: 07:15pm

The pleasant scent of aged paper and polished leather wafted through the library, coating the vast space in an relaxing aroma.

My fingertip gently glazed the corner of the cream paper as I neared the end of the page. Just as I began to read the next set of words, obnoxious laugh filled the room and ruined the tranquil setting.

        "Dude, that's so not true!" I heard Richard's low, raspy voice say from somewhere beyond the numerous book-lined selves.

        "I'm telling the truth!" Cody exclaimed with a laugh as they drew closer. I sighed in irritation and turned back to my book. "Well if you don't believe me," Cody said as they entered my proximity of the library. "why don't we ask Adrian?"

        I pursed my lips and angerily skimmed the page. "Ask me what?" I asked, not willing to give Cody the satisfaction of making eye contact.

        "Cody seems to think that he's more desirable than I am." Richard said as he joined me on the love-seat; I curled my legs in to give him more room to get comfortable. "And how do I fit into this equation?" I asked and flipped pages once more.
"We want you to give to choose who – out of the two of us - is more attractive." Cody said and sat on the lip of the arm-rest that I reclined against.

        Profound confusion washed over my face. "And why the hell would I do that?" I asked, trying to focus on the words that were tattooed onto the pages in black ink. " 'Cause you're the only viable judge." Richard said as sunk into the hickory leather. "Benjamin's preparing dinner in the kitchen, go ask him." I said and turned the page again.

        "I offered that," Cody said and leaned closer to me, his hot breath tickling the back of my neck. "But Richard thought that having a sixty-something year old judge young adults attractiveness levels would be 'creepy'." Well, he wasn't wrong.

"And so, you chose me from default?" I asked. These idiots have been making it impossible to find five minutes worth of solitude for the past two weeks. "Don't think of it like that, Adrian." Richard said and placed his massive hands around my ebony combat boots. "Just think of it as a game of Hot-or-Not!"

        I snapped up from my book and looked at him. Richard's Icelandic irises lit up as he flashed me a bright smile. I chewed my lower-lip, trying my damnedest not to return the expression. He casually ran his porcelain fingers through his medium-length onyx hair and tilted his head to the side – damn, why must he be like this?

I sighed and leaned my head back to view Cody, whom was smugly smirking down at me. "All you have to do is choose who you'd rather fuck." He said, contentment twinkling in his piercing green eyes. "Or, who'd you rather date!" Richard exclaimed in panic as he blushed.

        I loudly exhaled as I looked began to study each of their facial features carefully.
"You both are attractive, and each have hand fulls of people who would date-or-fuck either you in a heartbeat." I said after a few minutes. "That's not an answer!" Cody exclaimed in anguish and threw his head back.

        "Well that's my answer." I said coldly and turned back to my book.

        Silence then filled the room; the dreamy pitter-patter of raindrops could be heard dancing on the roof and bay-windows. "What book are you reading, anyways?" Cody asked. "Art of War." I said in a vexed tone. "Oh," Cody said and knitted his eyebrows. "why?"
I took a deep breath and shut my eyes, attempting to prevent myself from punching him in the throat. "So that I can plot the most effective way of murdering you in your sleep." I said and earned a snort from Richard.

        Cody smirked and lowered himself to my ear. "So you admit that imagine me in bed?" He whispered the question barely loud enough for Richard to hear. "My, my, it appear that you're not at as innocent as your boy-toy painted you to be."

        I froze. I couldn't fathom what was going on within Cody's brain, but it sent an unpleasant shiver coursing through my veins.

I jabbed my elbow into his jugular, causing him to fall off the arm-rest gagging. Richard laughed at my action and pulled my into his arms. "Shit, you're aggressive." Cody said in a croaked voice as he rubbed his neck.

        "Serves you right!" Richard exclaimed as protectively locked his strong arms around my chest, and rested his cheek on my head.

        I melted into his embrace and rested my head against his chest; through his soft navy sweater, I felt the steady rhythm of his heartbeat that had the power to lull me to sleep at any moment.
"Yeah," Cody said with a sigh. "I should've known he'd be biased towards you. Seeing as you're a couple and all." Richard's grip tightened around me.

        "Uh, we aren't together." I said slowly and felt Richard nestle his nose into my dark brown hair.

        "You sure?" Cody asked from his position on the old, wooden flooring. "Because unless your gay, guys usually don't cuddle."

        That statement had never made much sense to me; if two males – or better yet, any pair human beings – shared any physical contact with one another, everyone assumed that they had to be dating. Whatever happened to platonic relationships? God, this society is fucked up far beyond my comprehension.

"Piss off, Cody." Richard said as he continued to cradle me. "You're just jealous because you have no one to cuddle."

        Cody smirked and shook his head. "You sure about that one, Dick? 'Cause I recall you being pretty clingy last night!" He exclaimed and Richard's body tensed.

        "That never happened!" Richard exclaimed in anger and was practically crushing my rib-caged now. "And don't you fucking dare call me that."

I rolled eyes and pried his arms off of me. "Oh my God, you both are children!" I exclaimed and stood up, tugging the wrinkles out of my white muscle-tee.

        I swept my phone from off the love-seat, and began leaving the massive library. "Where are you going?" Richard asked as he peered over the curved back of the chair.

        "Away from your sorry asses." I said in response and briskly walked out.

********************************************

August, 21
Gotham: 07:32 pm

        A moment of peace, that was I wanted in life. 

        For the past years, it has been nothing but event after event; no peace – no rest. I hated it. At least when I was little I was able to take a break from training, and go play with a few other children. Now I have to practically kill for a moment of undisturbed serenity.

    'S-Sherlock, don't!' I pleaded as the man pinned me against the cold, ice-like wall, and smothered my neck in kisses. 'Or what?' He  murmured  against my tan-ish skin. I cracked my brain for a best-fitting answer. What would be  a good response? 'Mrs. Hudson will hear us!' I decided was a good enough answer, seeing as it had appeared to work. Sherlock stopped attacking my neck and locked eyes with me, a smirk formed on his small, slim lips. 'Well then, I guess that well just have to turn up the some music then, hm?' He said, his beautiful gray eyes reminded me of irises that belong to a ocean during a winter storm. Before I could respond to his outrageously crude statement, Sherlock locked me in a deep, passionate kiss.'

        Musky cologne invaded my nostrils and caused me to cringe. "What do you want, Cody?" I asked as I clicked the mouse on my silver laptop.

        There was no response. I sighed knowing what would make him talk. I switched tabs and opened YouTube; I then paused my music and yanked out my earphones.

        I turned over and saw Cody give me a triumphant smile. "Well?" I asked, not bothering to mask my voice in pleasantries.

        "You know, for someone who'd willingly strangle me in my sleep, you're actually pretty cute." He said, leaning against the oak door-frame.

        "Uh, thank you?" I said – rather asked as I knit my eyebrows in confusion. Cody wore an olive v-neck shirt that shamelessly showed off how built he was, with faded jeans, and a pair of charcoal high-tops. "But I think there's a way for you to be even more adorable." He said.

        I sighed before responding with: "And what would that be?" I of course already knew the answer, but I figured that I'd humor the abnormally tall teenager.

        "If you were gripping my bed sheets." Cody said, his smirk radiating his mischievous thoughts.

        I glared through the glass balcony door and saw the ominous forest that hid the coast in a line of red pines. "For the last time, Cody," I said in obvious irritation. "I am not going to make your bed."

        Cody cleared his throat and blinked a few times. He parted his slim lips to speak, but was interrupted by a clicking sound that echoed through the hall.

        After a few seconds, Richard popped his head through my door. "Hey Adrian, Alfred wanted me to tell you that dinner was finally ready." He said in a cheerful voice. Thank God, a person that I could actually tolerate.

        "Richard!" I exclaimed in a childish whine. "Cody's being an idiot again!" Richard quietly snickered as he rubbed his thumb over his smiling lips.

        "And what did  he do this time?" He asked with a giddy glint in his eyes.

        "Being the imbecile that he is, he doesn't understand that we have a butler to make our beds every morning." I said and saw the glee drain from Richard's square-shaped face.

        "What did he say, exactly?" He asked in a weary voice and gave Cody a confused glance.

        I sighed and rubbed my tear-ducks. "He wants me to 'grip his bed sheets', which is is totally absurd because we have Alfred to do that for us." I said as my voice returned to it's normal, emotionless state.

        Richard shot me a soften look, before snapping his gaze back at Cody. "You, what?!" He exclaimed in a rage.

        Fear consumed Cody's being as his eyes widened and face paled. "Now Dickie, calm down." Cody said with raised hands as he slowly inched out of the threshold. "You both can share me!" He exclaimed and gave a weak smile.

        Richard looked more furious than amused by Cody's statement. "There won't be much left to share, once I'm done with you" Richard exclaimed angrily and lurched forward.

        Cody jumped out of the way with a yelp, before spinning on his heels, and dashing away. I watched in bewilderment as Richard chased after him.

        I shut my mouth and blinked a few times before returning to my laptop; its potent light causing me to wince as my eyes readjusted to it.

       A couple of shitty fan fictions later, I heard the grand door of the manor slam shut. I snapped my head back up from my laptop, and heard the faint sound of Benjamin greeting Joseph.

        I closed the device and slid it off my knees, before uncrossing my legs from their pretzel-like position. I cracked my neck with a relieved groan, then slipped off my king-sized bed.

********************************************

August, 21
Gotham: 07:48 pm

"Are you okay?" I asked Richard as he took the ivory cushioned seat next to me.

"I'm fine." He whispered as he glared sharply at Cody from across the table. I mouthed an okay and smoothed my palms over my black skinny jeans.

       "So Joey," Cody said with his chin disdaining on his hand. "How was you day?" He asked and gave sly, closed mouth smile.

        Joseph took a deep breath, and loosened the scarlet tie from around his neck. "Busy." He said with a dried voice.

Benjamin then entered the room, carrying steel trays of food. "I prepared spaghetti from scratch for supper this evening." He said with a rich British accent as he rested porcelain plates in front of each of us.

        "Sounds wonderful, thank you, Benjamin." Joseph said and smiled up at the butler.

        "Of course, Master Joseph." Benjamin said can gave a humble bow; the dim light from the chandelier reflecting off his gelled gray hair. We began to eat our meal in silence.

Upon eating half of my pasta, I gingerly slipped a hand underneath my thigh and pulled out my cell phone. I glanced around the table before unlocking it, and opening my Messages app.

July, 6th
3:00pm
Adrian: Hey you doing okay? Haven't seen you around the Guild in awhile
July, 18th
7:17am
Adrian: Okay Alaric, I've given you your fucking space, now tell me what the fuck is wrong?
July 18th
7:19pm
Adrian: Dude, you know that you can tell me anything, right? I won't judge
August, 2nd
2:54am
Adrian: Okay that's it! You have to pull your head out of your ass, and at least give Dinah a call RIGHT NOW. She nearly got me killed with her blatant texting earlier. Her and Matt are worried about you, Alaric. Just let them know that you're alive.

I sighed in discontentment and dangled my thumbs over the digital keyboard, pondering what could possible get him to answer. "Hey Joseph, have you heard anything from Alaric recently?" Richard asked, taking notice of the glowing screen the peaked out from underneath the table.

        I quickly clicked it off and slid my phone in between my legs. "Uh, Alaric?" Joseph asked before mouthing the name a few times.

        "Alaric Kane," Richard said softly. "the sharp-shooter that works in Brooklyn with Dinah and Matthew."

It took a moment for it to dawn on Joseph. "Oh that Alaric!" He exclaimed. "No, sadly I haven't heard any in particular about Mister Kane recently. But I have received word that Dinah and Matthew have began fostering a new guy. I believe they said that he was about your ages."

So they fucking replaced him? Granted I wasn't incredibly close to Alaric, but I honestly had expected that Dinah and Matthew would take a little more time before recruiting a new team member.

        "Is he an Abnormal, or a Standard?" I asked, narrowing my eyes.

        "He has displayed some out-of-the-ordinary abilities, but his DNA doesn't show such abnormalities." Joseph said as he twirled some sauced noodles onto his fork. "But something is diffidently strange in his nucleotides."

"Unidentifiable nucleotide component, sounds familiar." Richard said and scowled at Cody who was in the middle of taking a sip of water.
        The brunette awkwardly darted his eyes back and forth. He placed his glass down and slowly swallowed. "He's not the only who can't be classified as an Abnormal or Standard." I said, suspiciously jumping to his defense.

        "Excuse me Adrian, but can you pop massive wings out of your back?" Richard asked with a raised eyebrow. I sighed and looked down.

        "No." I said quietly.

"My point exactly, the computers still haven't been able to detect what gives Cody his – unique abilities. And sense school will be starting soon, I think that we should consider altering his records like we have done with Adrian." Richard confidently said, which caused Bruce to smile proudly.

        "It looks like those Public Speaking Classes have been a positive for you." He said before turning to me and frowning. "It's a shame that not all of you have developed such extraordinary people skills." My lips curled into an annoyed smile as I cocked my head, and began to stab my food.

It's not my fault that I loathe human beings; their greed and selfishness caused the ecosystem to crash, which brought forth King Enterprise and Sinclair Incorporation to rise up and create costly solutions to keep the earth from dying.

"No matter personal strengths and weaknesses," Joseph said and broke the quietness. "I agree with you, Richard. We do need to find a way for Cody to pass security without any flukes." I began jabbing at the meatballs harder.

        "Right, so may I have clearance to create a Standard ID for Cody?" Richard asked, the forced sweetness shone through his elegantly phrased wording.

        Joseph nodded in agreement. "Yes, and I would like to see it done sooner than later." He said and took a sip of his scotch.

After that I tuned out the rest of the conversation. It's always the same each night: new theories on how to save the planet. If humans didn't destroy it with machinery and protest posters, there would be no need to slave away in laboratories, searching for a fail safe. But no one ever wants to hear about the faults in their ways, so I usually get ignored in such discussions.

By the time dessert came around, my ability of resisting to urge to punch something was wearing dangerously thin. "Can I be excused?" I asked, already leaving my chair.

        All eyes suddenly fell upon me, and ice raced through my veins. "But what about dessert?" Benjamin asked sorrowfully as he gestured to the chocolate cheesecake in his hand.

        "I'm not really in the mood sweets." I said while my watering mouth detested.

"What do you plan on doing then?" Asked Joseph in vivid irritation.

        "Probably train or read." I said. Bruce thought for a moment before giving me a dismissive nod.

********************************************

August, 21
New York: 9:20 pm

Hot breath escaped my lips as rapidly as dodged my opponents attacks.

        I lent backwards as a robotic fist flew at my face. I grabbed a hold of it's wrist and fore-arm, then jerked the artificial enemy towards me.

        I quickly gripped it's head and slammed it into my knee-cap, causing it to short-circuit and fall at my feet.

        My victory was short lived for a new set of robots came charging a me from opposite sides of training arena. I targeted one and adjusted my stance.

        Once it was a few yards away, I ran towards it. As the military android drew near, I jumped off the ground, grasped it's shoulders, and directed my weight to the ground behind it. The force of the fall crushed it's metallic face.

        Sharp pain burned across my back as a steel staff hit my shoulder-blade. I gasped as the agonizing fire burned into my bloodstream.

        I spun around and countered the next attack by catching the cool metal weapon in my hands. The robot honed in on my movements as we battled for the staff; I falsified a blow which distracted my opponent long enough for me to tug the weapon away from him, and jabbed it into the robot's side.

        I swirled the staff in my hand as I spun around, before shoving it into a glowing red eye; crimson flashed a few times before the robot fell limp.

        Another robot was charging with the tip of its staff pointed at my face. I jump out of the way just as the weapon was about to hit me.

        I rolled behind six foot tall killer and jabbed my stolen staff through its torso. 

        Slow clapping filled the gigantic room. I spun the metal over my hand and regained a defensive stance. I turned my head in the direction of the noise and saw Richard leaning over the metal railing above me; a kind smile gracing his finely structured face.

        "Nice job," He said, his intense blue eyes passionately studying me. "but was destroying the poor robots really necessary?" An awkward lump formed in my throat as I scanned over the sea of lethally damaged machinery that filled training platform.

        Suddenly feeling uncomfortable, I coughed the substance away and ran my hand through my asymmetrical hair. "Come up here." Richard said and cocked his head behind him; the dim lighting casting shadows on him, defining his large muscles even more.

        I snapped out of my gaze and gave a quick head-sake, then stumbled my way over to the illuminated staircase.

        "Cereal?" Richard asked, holding a bowl of Lucky Charms with an outstretched arm. I stared the milk and marshmallows before meeting his gaze. I took the bowl with a twitch of a smile.

        Richard gave me a beaming grin, then walked over to the gigantic computer that hung against the stone wall in the back of the room, and took  a seat. I followed after him.

        Richard turned on the computer and began creating Cody Arzy a fake ID. I rested against the edge of his chair and stirred my spoon.

        "So, you still don't know what's wrong with me?" I asked and Richard immediately stopped typing and looked at my with a concerned gaze.

        "Adrian," Said he, his voice dry and worry-filled. I blinked a glance at him. "Listen to me, there is absolutely wrong with you."

        I forced a silent laugh. "Really? Then explain to me why – after years of research – can't we so much as verify that I'm even a human being?!" I exclaimed; the sudden noise echoed throughout the dewy cavern.

        Richard studied me for a moment; his broad brows crunched up against his thickly-framed  black glasses. "Look, just because we don't know what makes you – well – you, it doesn't mean that you're any less of a human than I am." His words were now much softer and held a warm presence about them.

        Fighting the salty liquid that outlined my small eyes, I shook my head and looked away. For the past ten years, every member of the Sinclair Estate has poked so many needles into me – have taken so many blood samples - that I almost have grown numb to the feeling.

        All of this because I have abilities that Standard – or humans without special abilities – don't have, and my DNA doesn't show any indicators of Abnormal – humans with special abilities – mutations.

        I should seriously be used to it by now, but it irks me to no end that a scientist as brilliant and successful as Joseph Sinclair can't figure out the cause of my unique skills.

        "Adrian." Richard said my name in such a chilling manner that all back-round noise faded out, and my body turned to stone. "Come here." He beckoned me in a calm whisper. I slid into his lap as he took my cereal away from me.

        Richard wrapped his securely around me; the aroma of his cologne still stuck to his skin although he had changed out of his day attire, and into a comfortable pair of black sweats, and a baggy indigo shirt.

        Richard held me for a couple of minutes, before he lowly began to hum You Are My Sun. I relaxed my body into his, subsequent to falling asleep.