All the time that they had spent with Shin. All the times they had helped Shin, that Shin had helped them. All the years that they had known each other. And Shin didn’t know where the shop was. The shop that had been a medium shop in the same place, for almost two full decades at this point.

It was something that should have been done years ago, but if Tarin and Shin ended up hitting things off well, Lee was going to have to correct that.

Lee nodded. It probably would be best if she stuck around when Tarin and Shin met. Lee hoped that Tarin would be able to start opening up more, both being more open with her, as well as opening up at least a bit to others, but she knew that that would take time. Doing so had him working against decades of ‘training’ and habit.

”Sounds good,” Lee replied. ”So other than Michael, what have you been up to?”

Other than Michael, what had he been up to?

What HAD he been up to?

There was X-men stuff and teaching, and the mansion rebuilding. Mainly, he had been teaching students math. Occasionally, Japanese. There had not been many new X-men.

”Not a lot,” Shin admitted, ”Teaching and X-men stuff has kept me busy. We’ve been rebuilding the mansion, after the big battle I mentioned. From the foundation, up. Kealey and I tackled a spare room in our apartment and painted it, updated it and baby proofed it, the whole nine yards. We spent all our money on accessories for this little guy.” He leaned in and smiled at the baby.

The baby laid there and looked cute. It was what he was good at, these days. But he was a pro.

It was amazing how much needed to actually be done to prepare for a smol child. Fastening things to walls, buying cameras and elaborate bits of technology to monitor them, cribs and swaddles and chunky toys and big soft apes. He had not even really told any of his coworkers/friends, either. Things had been super busy and that had been his focus. Kealey and the babe. His family knew. But they were in Japan. His sister might visit later this year, and that was exciting.

He opened his mouth and added ”My sister may fly in from Japan for a visit. My parents, too.”

Teaching was good, though a lot of the X-Men stuff and rebuilding the mansion not so much. But when Shin mentioned that him and Kealey had painted and set up a room for Michael, Lee smiled. Though it had been even longer since she had seen Kealey than it had since she’d seen Shin, she did remember the Irish woman’s interest in fashion and style.

”Well, if Kealey planned the design, I’m sure that the room is at least as adorable as Michael is,” Lee said with a smile. ”But if you’re still needing something, let me know since I’ve obviously missed the baby shower.”

Shin then spent the next couple moments just smiling down at his son. Lee was silent, a smile on her face. She remembered those days, looking down at the miracle that baby Kevin was and just being amazed and in awe as he laid there. Those feelings had probably gone much further and deeper for her, but Lee could see something similar on Shin’s face.

Then he mentioned that his sister, and his parents, might be flying in from Japan to visit and see Michael. ”That sounds nice. I’m guessing that means things are good with your family?” Lee asked. Because that was often not the case with mutants. ”Do you know when that might be? Or is it just in the ‘it’s possible it might happen’ stage?”

>>> ”Well, if Kealey planned the design, I’m sure that the room is at least as adorable as Michael is,” Lee said with a smile. ”But if you’re still needing something, let me know since I’ve obviously missed the baby shower.”

Shin smiled and shook his head. ”There was no baby shower. We would have invited you, otherwise. It’s kind of hard for her, feeling all those emotions. But if you want to give the baby a present, I’m sure he will be thrilled!” He said.

They had not told everyone. They had not even told his main friend group. Lee was probably the first to see the baby, out of all the people he knew. It would be a nice surprise.

”Me and my family are good. They’re very accepting. They know Kealey and I are mutants, and they’ve even met her. I took her to Japan. That was fun.”

His cousin Kokoro was also a mutant. She kept her family busy. They’d tried to bring her to the mansion, but she had simply gotten into too much trouble.

”Were hashing out details. Soon.” He answered her question.

There had been no baby shower, because of all the emotions. That actually made a lot of sense. ” I doubt he’ll even understand for a year or two, but I’ll see what I can come up with for him.” After a call to Kealey, of course.

And things were good with Shin’s family. Lee smiled happily hearing that. Her own parents hadn’t started trying to make things right until after she’d been in New York for a while already, and things hadn’t started becoming comfortable between them until after Kevin was born.

Adele Brooks had been a different story, and she had not only welcomed Tarin home with open arms years after he had run away without a word, but she had also warmly welcomed Lee. Visits after Kevin had been born hadn’t been the easiest, and Adele was only in Texas. Shin’s family was in Japan. That was like 24 hours of travel time, or something ridiculous like that.

And they would be visiting soon, they were figuring out details.

”That’s great, Shin!” Lee said with a smile. ”Please tell me you’ll be taking time off to spend with them when they’re here.”

Shin nodded at the comment about presents.

”No rush. He likes bunnies and the color blue,” he smiled. And everything too. He was baby, he liked everything. Until He did not. Then, there was zero love for him and things. Only to be replaced by all the love in the world.

He was baby.

—

>>>
”That’s great, Shin!” Lee said with a smile. ”Please tell me you’ll be taking time off to spend with them when they’re here.”

He nodded.

They walked for a few seconds in silence, then Shin said:

”They aren’t perfect. I think my cousin had a rough time with her family. Then again, she did forcefully throw herself into a fight to get it to activate for the first time, not even sure it existed in the first place… but I guess that’s how it is. Mine was kind of that way… a freak accident in a boxing match.”

Lee walked and listened as Shin described how his cousin, and himself, had discovered their powers. She continued walking in silence for a few moments as she mentally digested that.

”That seems like a rather foolish and dangerous thing to do,” Lee finally replied. ”But I’m guessing her power did emerge then? But fights are unpredictable enough, why would you purposely go into one simply hoping something will happen that will be of help?”

It just did not make sense to Lee. Though, maybe that was also the difference in thinking between her and the guys at the gym about ‘real’ fights.

”Mine were anything but sudden when I first got them. It would have made a lot more sense about what was going on if it was sudden, though.”

>>> ”That seems like a rather foolish and dangerous thing to do,” Lee finally replied. ”But I’m guessing her power didemerge then? But fights are unpredictable enough, why would you purposely go into one simply hopingsomething will happen that will be of help?”

He told her he had noooooo idea. He agreed, on all the points. It had been a pretty upsetting night.

>>> ”Mine were anything but sudden when I first got them. It would have made a lot more sense about what was going on if it was sudden, though.”

He nodded, pushing the baby along in the hovering pram.

”I’ve seen it both ways. Gradual. Sudden. For my cousin, it was a shot in the dark. Only because she found out I have them, and wanted them for herself. Kind of a spoiled attitude. ‘I got mine, I want yours.’ But I guess for each of us, how we interact with our power is different. For some, it is an outright curse…”

He had once taught a werewolf.

Lee nodded as she listened to Shin talk about what he’d seen with powers emerging. And that some powers were a curse.

”Yeah, I used to think mine were, too,” Lee admitted. Though, that was years ago. She had been getting over that feeling by the time that she had met Shin. Though, there had definitely been times since then that she wished she was able to produce her own energy. Still often did, actually, though that had been far less common since Tarin had realized how difficult mornings were for her and how easy the ‘fix’ was.

”At least if Kevin’s are a gradual onset, we’ll figure out that it’s a mutant ability sooner than I did with mine. I just hope whatever his powers end up being, it’s not as traumatic as his father’s when they appear.”

Lee used to think her powers were a curse, and that seemed sad to Shin. He got it. From what he had heard about how her powers worked, it was not an easy thing to deal with. It made sense. But still, he did not like it when anyone came in thinking poorly of themselves because of their mutations. He always did his best to help them through the struggle.

Lee spoke about Kevin’s not having mutation, and the hope that maybe if it were a gradual onset, they would figure it out sooner than she had with her own power.

She hoped they would not be a traumatic flashy thing, when they did appear.

Shin agreed with a small grunt and a nod.

A jogger came running past them, from the opposite direction. He shifted the baby pram a little, to give the person more room on the path.

”I think Kevin will have a good support group, however it happens.” He told Lee. ”Whenever it happens. But I do hope it isn’t traumatic.”

Thinking about mutations, thinking about his own kiddo as he stared down at Michael, he could not help but think about Becca and Mirror’s child. That mutation had come a lot earlier than in teenage years. And Sam had needed to fight to protect it, when Travis had come knocking.

He shuddered physically at the thought, slowing his stride a bit.

”This world can be a scary place…” He murmured.

Just based on the fact that Kevin had a support system for when his powers emerged meant that he was in such a better place than both of his parents had been. And, whether it was fortunate or still unfortunate in this case, Lee had a lot of experience dealing with trauma. Plus Tarin with the experience of traumatic power-

Lee’s thoughts cut off there. Had he discovered the his powers the same way that Tarin’s father had? Even with everything else that they had shared with each other, Lee didn’t think it was appropriate to ask if Tarin had found out about his powers by waking up to see his father the night of his funeral.

”This world can be a scary place…”

Lee sighed, slowing her pace to match Shin’s. ”You don’t have to convince me of that,” she told him quietly. She’d left the only place that had really felt like home since getting her powers because of how scary it had felt with a baby. ”We just have to try to make it less scary for our kids, and hope what we do helps.”

He didn’t need to convince her, because it was true. The world could be terrifying. Her voice was quiet and thoughtful, as she shared a thought of hope.

He nodded. “Yes,” he agreed. His eyes were locked on Michael. “Yes, we will.”

It was all they could do. It was the best they could do. And he had already been doing it before the baby had been born. He had never stopped. It was kind of his thing. Funny thing, that.

”Did Sam tell you… about Mirror and Becca’s kid, and the mystic who tried to stop the kid’s powers? I’m… still shaken about the whole thing even months after. I had to stop him. Sam, I mean.” The Asian grimaced.

It had been awful, and he needed to share it with someone. He had, with Kealey, but it had been intense and she had felt him feeling it and he did not like to make her feel those feelings, so he had not talked long, or very deeply. And he could talk with Sam about it, but how would that go? Pretty silly. He had not honestly talked about it with many folks. He supposed he needed an outlet, and Lee seemed a good listener.

Lee nodded, a frown on her face, as he asked if Sam had told her about the child who’s x-gene had been taken. ”He…Yeah, he did tell me a bit about it,” Lee told Shin. And then it clicked that Shin said he had to stop Sam.

Shin had been the reason that Sam hadn’t killed the person who did that to the poor kid. ”He didn’t really didn’t tell me a whole lot, Sam did a great job not telling me about all the drama and mutant stuff over the years, but he did tell me about what happened to the the poor kid.”

Glancing over at Shin, he was looking rather upset. Yeah, probably a good idea not to tell him that she would have done the same as Sam.

”How is she doing now?” Lee asked softly. ”How are you and Sam doing?”

The story Sam had shared with Lee probably had not been the full tale. Bite sized. Like a tea sandwich. An hors douvre. Not too filling. Apparently he had a history of attentiveness to peoples dietary concerns. Better that than shoveling lies down their throats, He supposed. Feeding them trash.

She had been told about the kid, but not every bit of drama Sam had experienced over the years.

Shin nodded. Not optimal. Made sense. Sam’s dramas could feed the city for a year. Hence, bits and bites.

She asked how Sam was doing. How they both were doing. Together. Personally.

He grimaced. ”Were fine. I put him in what amounts to an Iron Maiden made of shards, then flew him 200 feet in the air at like 50 miles per hour or something. In front of cameras. He’s fine. The news coverage though… dunno”. He shrugged one shoulder.

He had covered him in shards armor and levitated the man up, which Shin had stayed in ground level talks with media and mystic. Usually the armor takes time to build, out of safety concerns. To prevent razors from digging in from the razor Armor he had made, from razors. He had done a rush job, a hatchet job. Nobody should have worn that Armor. Sam had.

”It hurt him a lot, the shard armor Iron Maiden i put him in. Took off the safeties. Lot of razors at odd angles. Painful power rangers suit. Usually make or safe inside. But there wasn’t time. He was going to kill…. Sorry.” He stopped to lean over the baby’s pram, and took a while minute to focus on smiling at the kid, and collecting himself. Calming down.

Lee’s eyes widened slightly as Shin described what he had done in order to stop Sam from killing the man. Sam had said that Shin stopped him, but he hadn’t said how. Likely because, she thought, Sam hadn’t wanted her to worry about that, or just as likely, the fact that him getting hurt wasn’t an important part of the story.

It…was not good. And Lee could see that Shin was still quite upset about it. By the time that he had finished speaking, Shin was looking down at baby Michael.

”I know he was,” Lee said softly as she stepped closer to Shin and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. ”You did what you thought you needed to do. To stop a friend from doing something horrible.”

Something horrible, yes, but it was very understandable why Sam wanted to do that, why he was about to kill the man. Again, Lee decided that that was not a thought Shin needed to hear right now.

”Sometimes, there are no good options, Shin,” Lee went on to say. ”Sometimes all you have available are bad and worse.”