This was it.
This was the last straw.
Well, actually, it was the straw that came after the last straw, and since the camel was already busted, it was time to take out all the frustrations on the straw that came in too late anyway.

Emmy got dumped.
By the Nerd.

Mirror waited for a Gawain day on purpose. Justice needed to be served, and even though his/her physical abilities were pretty decent in both forms, Gawain definitely packed an extra punch. Plus he wanted Akshay to punch back, and that is always awkward for girls.

Ems insisted it was a mutual thing. There is no such thing as a mutual thing, not that Mirror really cared. Ems got hurt, and it gave him an excellent excuse for pummeling someone who was not conjured up by the Danger Room. He was sure he was gonna make a satisfying squishy sound.

It was not hard to find a comic shop, Emmy had talked about it before. Stepping out of the reflective inside of the shop window with the setting sun behind him, Gawain walked up to the guy behind the counter.

"You."

It…had been ROUGH.

Poor Akshay has had just a hell of a time lately. Not only did his one relationship come to an end but he also woke up from a drunk night as pregnant, AND there was that…um….horrible week that he was just not going to mention right now. As a matter of fact, Akshay was simply not looking forward into coming into work for once. It really felt like he should have taken more time off but he knew that if he did he was going to have to offer a reason as to why.

Quite frankly, he didn’t want to offer any reasons. He simply wanted to go back into being regular old Akshay without the constant fear of women now.

He guessed that really the only way he could get to that point was to get back into some of his regular routines. Of course…that meant costumes.

Making today a special promotion day, Akshay had decided to dress up as one of the lesser known (but nonetheless badass heroes) The Hawk! Dressed all in purple, with a quiver attached to his back and a bow slung across his shoulder, Akshay smiled and waved to the few customers he had filtered in and out of his shop. Though he was sure he looked nothing like the real character, the costume was definitely spot on. Much better then The Hawk in that movie that came out last summer.

His day winding down, Akshay watched the last of his costumers leave as he set about closing up the register. It was an okay day, not ground-breaking, but definitely one to at least keep them open another week. Any day with a victory like that was worth it.

Slipping the key to the register inside of his locked drawer, Akshay was just about to set aside the rest of the receipts when--

>> "You."

Akshay actually jumped. Still a little frayed from his most recent encounters, he was about to scream but he spun around to see that least it wasn’t a woman! Instead…a very angry looking boy (though definitely with some feminine features. Kinda like a Justin Beaver type…) was glaring at him. How did he even get into his sho—

Oh a fist! CRAP!

“OoOF!” Akshay gasped as he felt the punch connect with his jaw. It was strong. Not enough to knock him off his feet but still enough to stagger him. Wow, he punched hard for a girl/boy. “Oooow!” Akshay winced and rubbed his jaw. He looked up to finally notice that it was Gawain. “Gawain? What the hell, man?”

>>“OoOF! Oooow! Gawain? What the hell, man?”

It was a very satisfying squishy sound indeed. Gawain shook his hand, perfectly aware that he probably cracked a few bones and that Doc was not going to heal them for him. Still, it was worth it.

"You know %+!&@ well that the hell!" he growled, balling his fist up again "Ya think you can just dump my sister and I'm not gonna come after your sorry ass?!"

It was a very reasonable thing to believe. But it was not correct. Gawain wound up for another punch.

Akshay rolled his eyes. He suddenly remembered the connection of Gawain to whatever reason why he was attempting to punch in his face. Gawain was related, kinda, to Emerald, his ex and it seemed as the gender-shifter had finally decided to do something about the matter. If there is one thing that Akshay should know well enough by now is to always watch out for siblings. They tended to really be the most vengeful in these types of situations.

Already feeling his jaw radiating heat, Akshay attempted to hold up his hands defensively…

>> "You know %+!&@ well that the hell! Ya think you can just dump my sister and I'm not gonna come after your sorry ass?!"

“God damn it, Gawain!” Akshay said, seeing the teen pull back for another punch.

Akshay blinked as suddenly he saw a word flicker into life in the air in front of him. Apparently he was a bit frazzled and didn’t keep his powers in check. Still…it could be useful. Quickly he snatched the word “GOD” from the air and held it between both himself and Gawain like a shield.

“Gawain! This isn’t the time and you definitely have the wrong impression!” Akshay shouted as he the word up between the two of them. “Besides, kicking my ass is going to get you nowhere! Now relax! Let me explain!”

>>“God damn it, Gawain!”

Gawain's fist collided with the word that manifested out of thin air. It was surprisingly solid. Gawain echoed the curse, shaking his hurt fist.

>>“Gawain! This isn’t the time and you definitely have the wrong impression! Besides, kicking my ass is going to get you nowhere! Now relax! Let me explain!”

"Explain what?!" he spat, but did not punch again. His knuckles were throbbing as they were. "What's there to explain, huh?..."

Akshay looked fairly comical, dressed as the Hawk and holding up GOD for protection. Now there was an image for religious billboards. Gawain huffed.

"That is a f*** ridiculous costume for an archer, by the way."

>> "Explain what?! What's there to explain, huh?..."

Akshay sighed. He really didn’t need this right now. Not after all the times that he had had these past few weeks. All he was looking forward to doing was crawling back into bed at the end of his shift and lying in the dark, petrified, until the morning arose. But nooooo, the vengeful brother had to come charging into his shop TONIGHT of all nights to try and push him around. Akshay was so close the snapping already.

Keeping the word up for protection, he tried to think of something, anything that would get Gawain to calm down. While Akshay was by no means a horrible fighter, he doubted he could stand up to someone of Gawain’s caliber.

There was a way they could just sit and talk like rational adults, right? There was always a way.

>> "That is a f*** ridiculous costume for an archer, by the way."

…

…

…Snap…

“Oh…” he said with a twitch of his eye. “IT’S SO F***ING ON!!!!!!”

Akshay said as he hurled the word “GOD” at Gawain and suddenly charged him. No one…made fun of his well-made costumes! NO ONE!!!!!!!!!

Gawain sucked his teeth, shaking the numbness out of his fist. It felt good to punch someone, and it had been long, long overdue (even wild one night stands with teammates did not relieve that kind stress). Now that he had done it once and a half, he already felt his anger starting to subside.

"Come on dude, give me somethin' to g..."

>>“Oh… IT’S SO F***ING ON!!!!!!”

"Oh sh*t." Gawain ducked out of the way of God as the word flew at his face, but he did not have enough time to duck out of the way of possibly a hundred and eighty pounds of nerd hurling himself his way. Akshay caught him around the middle and they both went tumbling down in a flurry of fists, comic books, and costuming.

The next glorious ninety seconds were all punches, bites, and rolling around on top of scattered papers and the occasional plastic arrow. Akshay put up quite the ferocious fight - the costume was obviously a bigger deal than it has ever been on the X-team...
Finally X-men training did kick in and Gawain came out of top, bleeding generously from the nose and already developing a shiner. All around them word fragments decorated the floor, most of what should have come out as a series of asterisks for the protection of innocent eyes.

"Goddammit dude chill the f*** out!

>> "Oh sh*t."

Oh sh*t indeed!!

Gawain made the one fatal mistake that no person should ever make to a nerd on the brink…he made fun of said nerd’s swag. There was absolutely no way that Akshay was just going to let the man walk away with that one. He didn’t care if Gawain was here for retribution for his sister and was here to gun him down in cold blood! Akshay was going to have revenge. REVENGE!!

Surprisingly, Akshay actually caught the guy distracted. His arms looping around his midsection, Akshay brought the teen down and their fight began! And such a epic battle of the titans was it!!

Punches! Kicks! Bites! It was just all happening at the same time to the point that Akshay truly felt like a man possessed. After the hellish time he had been having lately, and really with no other way to cut loose, Akshay was all in this fight. The kid was strong, fast, but Akshay was just crazy. He was sure that at least a couple of times he had sunk his teeth into the kid’s arm, attempted to shove a plastic arrow where the sun don’t shine, bashed Gawain over the head with a “MOTHER******” word he created, and screamed out to Valhalla, Crom, and Stan Lee to help grant him the strength to take down his foe! He would pour Gawain’s blood on a shrine for their favor!

But such was his exhausting moves that he eventually was outmatched by Gawain’s training as an X-Man. It was obvious, though, that as good as Gawain was harmed, Akshay was just a little worse. He was sure at least one of his ribs were bruised, his fillings were coming out of one tooth, and bottom lip was split to the point that it dribbled down blood. Even his jaw was already nearly two sizes and perfect shades of black and blue due to the sucker punch earlier.

That’s right…SUCKER…PUNCH…

Damn cheater!

Eventually Akshay found himself pinned down and flailing against his opponent.

>> "Goddammit dude chill the f*** out!

“Take it back!” he growled. “Take back what you said about the costume or I’ll bite your face off!!”

Even though he was worse off than Gawain, Akshay still struggled with a force that made Gawain worried his head was going to start spinning around.

>>“Take it back! Take back what you said about the costume or I’ll bite your face off!!”

"Really?! Is that what ya're upset about?!" Gawain held him pinned down, dripping some blood on said costume, trying to not sound like he had half a comic book up his nose. For the safety of both of them, he made sure the struggling was not going to get out of hand, pun intended.

"I am an archer ya moron!" he growled, glancing around to make sure none of the arrows were within reach. Akshay was obviously thinking of doing some nasty things with them.

>> "Really?! Is that what ya're upset about?!"

Akshay rolled his eyes as he continued his struggles against Gawain. Sadly the girl/boy was just far too trained to subdue. As much as there was the blood and vinegar in Akshay to fight back, he was just outmatched! He could flailed and struggle as much as he wanted but if Gawain didn’t want to give in, Akshay didn’t think he was going to get anywhere right now. Still, he could just lie down and accept this, could he?

>> "I am an archer ya moron!"

He grumbled.

“And I’m not! Okay! At most I’m a f***ing nerd that can make costume!!” he sighed and he finally stopped struggling and just looked up at the teen. “I’m not a hero, I’m not a badass, I’m the guy that always gets picked on. The only thing I CAN[/b] do is make draw and make costumes. Don’t you f***ing dare take that away from me, goddamn it.”[/color]

His will to keep the fight going was slowly waning. Just dropping his head back, Akshay groaned and closed his eyes. The pain from his various wounds was finally beginning to get to him as his adrenaline began to wash away. No wonder he was always picked on and targeted by psychopaths and morons. No wonder.

“Listen, if you’re going to kick my ass, then just be done with it already, alright?” Akshay mumbled. “Just hurry up so I can go home.”

>>“And I’m not! Okay! At most I’m a f***ing nerd that can make costume!! I’m not a hero, I’m not a badass, I’m the guy that always gets picked on. The only thing I CAN do is make draw and make costumes. Don’t you f***ing dare take that away from me, goddamn it.”

Oh god. Nerd frustration. Gawain definitely came with his own baggage, street past, mommy issues and all, and he definitely had a dorky side, but being on a superhero team does work wonders on one's ego. He almost forgot how it felt like to be on the bottom of the fight.

>>“Listen, if you’re going to kick my ass, then just be done with it already, alright? Just hurry up so I can go home.”

That did it. Gawain slid off Akshay and sat with his back against the counter, wiping the blood off his nose and smearing it all over his sleeve.

"I'm not gonna kick your ass." he muttered, looking at Akshay "And ya're not a loser. I've seen ya in the dream, fighting for the school..."

Well, that brought up memories.

"F*** messed up..."

Akshay was ready for it. He was tired, he was exhausted, and most of all he was in pain. Not just physical pain from the beat down, but a little bit of emotional pain from having to think about everything that happened to him lately. Being reminded of his break up with Emerald just opened up those doors all over again. And it was something he definitely didn’t want to have to think about right now. He was moved on, sure, he was not going to go break down Emerald’s door and beg to be taken back. But he didn’t want to think about that time of his life either.

So, he waited for it. Eyes closed, teeth grinding, he waited for her brother to just pummel the hell out of him. Hopefully whenever he was done, he could then just leave Akshay in peace and he could bury that part of his past. He was done trying to be something he wasn’t.

But that never happened. Instead, he felt Gawain sliding off. Akshay cautioned to open his eyes, sat up (painfully) and watched Gawain leaning back against his counter.

>> "I'm not gonna kick your ass…And ya're not a loser. I've seen ya in the dream, fighting for the school...”

Akshay perked up. Sure most of that was probably just Gawain trying to make Akshay feel better, but something about that last part struck his interest. Seen him fight? In a dream? At first Akshay didn’t know what to make of it, but, as he thought, he suddenly remembered. THE dream. The one from a few months ago. That weird one where he was fighting for the Mansion that he’d met Gawain in. All those psychopaths were breaking in and Akshay had actually done a pretty good job of defending them until he too was killed.

But…he could have sworn that all of that was only a dream. How did Gawain know about that dream?

>> "F*** messed up..."

Akshay, pulling himself backward, leaned against one of his comic racks so that he could at least be sitting up. He had to admit that Gawain summed up the notion perfectly. Quietly he shook his head.

“How…did you even know about that dream?”

Akshay pulled himself up. He was going to live, which was a god sign, Gawain would have hated to kill someone through internal bleeding or some crap. Breakup or not, he did not deserve it that bad.

The mention of the dream seemed to have struck a chord. Intriguing.

>>“How…did you even know about that dream?”

"Whoa, ya'e out of the loop aren't ya" he muttered, still trying to stop the trickle of blood from his nose. It was making him light headed "I was in the same dream. So was pretty much everyone else I can think of, and half the freaking city..."

How did the nerd miss that? Did he live in a cave of comics?... Entirely possible.

"It was a glimpse at a possible future or some sh*t. Royally messed up the present if ya ask me."

>> "Whoa, ya'e out of the loop aren't ya"

That was entirely possible. After all the crap that had been following him lately, Akshay really had not been trying to keep up to date with most things happening in the world.

>> "I was in the same dream. So was pretty much everyone else I can think of, and half the freaking city... It was a glimpse at a possible future or some sh*t. Royally messed up the present if ya ask me."

Akshay paused as he just listened to Gawain speak. It was a giant shared dream? As in EVERYBODY had the same experience, or something close to it? The idea of it was just terrifying. But now that he thought of it, he thought he did hear rumblings here and there about people panicking, praying for the future. He always figured it was just nothing more than the standard freakiness that seemed to always happen around New York, so he scarcely paid attention to it.

Even he barely remembered the dream until right now. He sighed and shook his head as he thought back, remembering the his last fight for the mansion. To think that he was actually a part of something like that. Even if it was only in a dream, still, he never would have thought he had it in him.

He raised his gaze to Gawain, though, seeing the expression on his face as he thought about the dream too. With a wince Akshay held his side. God that rib was now sore.

“You sound like it was pretty bad for you,” he muttered. “I remember now. I…I saw you go down, didn’t I?”

>>“You sound like it was pretty bad for you. I remember now. I…I saw you go down, didn’t I?”

"No sh*t, bad" Gawain smirked through the pain in his face "Two bullets in the back and I was out. From what I hear, I can count myself lucky."

It was painful and awful, but it still saved him from spending three imaginary years in a post-apocalyptic world fighting to survive (and possibly being murdered by Maxine in the end, or held as a slave boytoy or something).

SO Akshay did remember. Good. Some people either blocked it, or just refused to admit they remembered, and Gawain hated dealing with that, even though it made all the sense in the world.

"Broke up with my girlfriend after the wakeup call" he muttered, smearing some more blood just for the heck of it "I guess that's just goin' around these days isn't it."

He gave Akshay a look, reminding him how the entire fight started, before the costume thing threw it off track...