Shade: Unbound

It had been a while since Jack had actually needed to put his drink down for an extended period of time for fear of choking on it in case he laughed, but this?

This definitely qualified.

“…so that was the last thing on my mind,” his best friend finished.

“And the first thing on hers, apparently,” he said between chuckles. “She must have been so freaked out. Especially at the thought of knowing you could observe all the signs of her freaking out in real-time.”

“Look,” Finn began.

Jack shook his head, recovering from the last bout of laughter. “No, seriously, you saw her limbic system light up the moment it sank in. And that’s on top of the realization that you can see her naked whenever she’s within your fuck-off massive range. Plus, you said she was already nervous because of what she was going to say to you, which I think I have a pretty good idea about. And, let’s be honest, you can take a solid guess at it as well if you just let yourself think about it for half a second. You’ve seen all the physiological signs. And I know for a fact you’ve explored this new power enough between the time you got it and now to have gathered enough data from other people to contextualize what you saw. So don’t bullshit me.”

Finn opened his mouth before closing it again, and Jack could see it begin to dawn on his friend what kind of position he’d put Lyra in.

He didn’t show many outward signs of concern, but Jack had known him long enough to notice the twitch of his brows and the way he set his mouth.

“Should I call her?” Finn asked after a beat.

“No,” Jack said immediately. “What you need to do now is give her space to handle the bombshell you dropped on her, then when she’s ready you can go see her again. All of her, I mean.” And after that last part, the hilarity rose again and he was back to holding his desk for support.

He was met with a flat look. “Jack…”

“I’m serious!” he gasped. “Give it time, man. Let her process it all, and then… well, let’s hope she doesn’t get a restraining order.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It is from where I’m standing.”

Finn sighed, leaning back in his chair. “I didn’t mean to freak her out.”

“I know that, she knows that, but that doesn’t change that she’s probably reevaluating everything about your friendship right now.” Jack wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. “I mean, imagine if the tables were turned. Imagine if she could read your thoughts or something similarly crazy.”

“That sounds… bad,” Finn conceded.

“Right. So you would need time to adjust, just like you’re giving her at this very moment.”

The brown-haired boy frowned. “What I don’t get is why she didn’t say anything. I never tried to invade her privacy. She was in my range when I got this power, and I told her as soon as I got the chance.”

Jack shrugged. “People don’t always respond rationally when they feel vulnerable. Especially when it’s about something this intimate.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “You might not think of it that way, but in all likelihood, Lyra’s been playing through every moment she’s spent around you in her head, wondering how much of herself you’ve really seen.”

“I wasn’t even paying attention to—”

“I get it. Okay? I get it, you don’t have to convince me. I know you weren’t trying anything remotely like that,” Jack interrupted, daring to take a sip from his drink again.

Finn grimaced, his frustration evident, but didn’t say anything further.

“But you have changed, you know,” Jack added after a second of silence.

“How?”

“The old Finn wouldn’t have been so worried, first of all. And second, you have a social life outside of me! I can still hardly believe it.” When he saw Finn’s raised eyebrow, he smirked, a tinge of melancholy entering his voice. “I was the one to encourage that, but it happened so much faster than I expected. I can’t help but feel like we’ve grown apart a bit, you know? And that’s just from a few weeks of not seeing each other as often as we used to. What will change if I don’t see you for a month? Or a year?”

“It’s fine,” Finn said in usual Finn fashion.

Jack snorted.

They were currently in Jack’s basement, which had over the past months more or less turned into his new room and the place he spent the most time in by far. He’d even moved his bed down here so he’d wake up and fall asleep to the Gridlock space. Or at least, that was the intention. In practice, other responsibilities took up his time on some days.

“How did you get your new power, anyway?” he asked, changing the topic.

His friend looked briefly contemplative. “By understanding. I just thought about people being connected in an abstract sense and understood. Then my power showed me people like that was its function from the start.”

“You gain new powers through comprehension, then?”

“Calling it new could be the wrong way of looking at it. It’s more like discovering what was there to begin with. And this is almost everything. Anything else I discover would be building on what I have already.”

“Huh. So no sudden ability to augment your body?”

“I don’t think so.”

“If you need- no, nevermind.”

Finn tilted his head. “What?”

Jack waved him off with a wistful smile. “Nothing, just falling into old habits.”

He was going to suggest a training routine, but realized that wasn’t his job anymore. Besides, he was sure Finn had this aspect of his ability covered.

No, it was his own capabilities Jack was more concerned about. As soon as he’d gotten in contact with Cyrus’ people, they started testing him through a series of layered encrypted messages, until he solved those and received an address. After that, his training began in earnest.

The technical team were an obscure bunch. Apart from one guy he half-suspected was Zeta, he didn't recognize any of them, which shouldn’t have been surprising for what would have to be a group of shut-ins, but he had trusted the intel he had collected on the specialists in the district. All in all, it made him cautious in their first interactions

But they weren’t at all hesitant to bring him into the fold. Though they offered paths for both software and hardware, Jack was more comfortable with the former.

However, that didn’t mean he wasn’t working to expand his capabilities into hardware as well. If he wanted to take to the field himself, he would need something reliable. And he had been putting in the hours to set himself up.

Shame it wouldn’t be ready for their next mission. He would have loved to fight by Finn’s side for an operation as big as the next one.

Granted, it wasn’t the end of the world. This way, he would have longer to prepare and show Finn later. For the time being, he would stay quiet about it.

It was nothing but a distraction at the moment, as he could see Finn concentrating on the shifting colors on the floor. Diligent in practice like always. Hell would freeze over before Jack caught his friend slacking off for even a day.

Instead of breaking that focus, Jack decided to spin his chair around and solve some scripts on his computer. This was something they used to do more often; just both doing their own thing in silence while in each other’s company. Recently, though, it had fallen to the wayside, what with the power training, missions, and expanding social circles. It gave moments like this a nostalgic undertone.

He didn’t know why he was being so sentimental. Maybe it was the thought of Finn separating from him plaguing him on a subconscious level. But he had expressed that before, so it shouldn’t be subconscious.

Jack shook his head slightly, clearing his mind as his fingers moved across the keyboard with practiced precision. The soft tapping was the only sound in the room besides the occasional shuffle from Finn's chair. It was comforting, this kind of quiet. The kind that came from familiarity, where words weren’t necessary to fill the space.

Yet, the weight of the earlier conversation lingered, gnawing at the edges of his thoughts. He hadn’t meant to get so sappy, but it was hard not to when he saw Finn growing into someone different than the person he'd always known. Not bad, just... more. More complex. More alert. More powerful.

Now that he actually had a path forward, Jack was more content with his role, no matter how difficult it was. Doubly so if he wanted to remain useful to Finn in the long term. And to Lyra, he supposed.

He would have to catch up with her again once she sorted everything out with Finn. Or they could have another one of those talks with all three of them together, and give themselves the opportunity to evaluate how things had progressed after taking Cyrus’ deal. See where they wanted to go from there.

“I was wondering,” Jack said out loud, causing Finn to look up. “What’s the plan after all this?”

“All this?” the other boy asked.

“The next few missions, once you get your hands on more resources, credits, other stuff you want. When you’re more established, basically. What then?”

“You changed viewpoints,” Finn observed.

He gave a confused look. “What do you mean?”

The young hero narrowed his eyes. “A couple of weeks ago you were still clinging to our previous team dynamic, saying this might be it for you, and now you’re suddenly so eager to look further ahead.”

“Guess I am. And I guess you’ve also gotten better at dodging questions.”

Finn’s lips flattened into a thin line, and he sat straighter. He looked to the side for a second, then back at Jack. It was clear from his eyes that he didn’t want to answer, which only served to confuse Jack further. What was so secret about his plans after the next few months?

Another unfortunate consequence of his friend’s improved proprioception was that his increased control over his tells made it so his body language gave very little away about what he was thinking, unless he let it. With time, Jack imagined he would become completely unreadable. Able to mute or fake any reaction. He’d be the greatest actor in the world, if someone undertook the herculean task of convincing him to pick up a script and play in a scene.

“Looks like it,” was what Finn gave him.

Opening his mouth to respond, he paused. Did he have the right to push for more? If Finn wanted to keep his plans to himself, was he obligated to tell Jack about them? It seemed weird to feel the need to hide that, but was it? He hadn’t forgotten how he had outed Finn to Lyra. That was arguably the reason things had transpired the way they did. That fuck-up, accidental though it may have been, could be the reason for this change in attitude. It could have permanently damaged their relationship, despite Finn’s acceptance of his apology.

But no. If he let anxiety and paranoia over what-ifs guide his actions, he would never get anywhere. Being unreasonable in the moment was a small price to pay for—

A chime sounded from Finn’s phone.

The recipient of the notification reached into his pocket and checked, not showing any outward reaction besides a single blink and a long, drawn-out silence.

“What is it?” Jack asked at length.

“Lyra. She invited me for dinner tomorrow at her place over text, to ‘help with my new discovery.’”

Jack felt his eyes widening. “Dinner? That’s unexpected.”

Finn nodded slowly, still staring at his phone, clearly unsure how to react. The invite wasn’t hostile, at least on the surface, but the ambiguity of Lyra’s message hung heavily in the air.

This unannounced tone shift had taken away Jack’s momentum, leaving his thoughts in disarray.

“So you’re going?” he finally managed to get out.

“Obviously. I can’t allow this to go on any longer than necessary,” Finn stated, his tone matter-of-fact.

Jack gave a disbelieving laugh. Of course Finn wouldn’t hesitate, confrontation or no. “...Worst case, she throws spaghetti in your face and demands you never speak to her again. Best case, well. No need for me to spell that out for you.”

“Very helpful.”

Jack threw his hands up. “I’m saying you’ve got this. Whatever happens.”

“Whatever happens,” Finn echoed absentmindedly, putting his phone away before moving to stand. “Alright. I’m heading out.”

“Wait,” Jack blurted.

Finn focused on him, half out of the chair.

“Wanna play some games?”

The vigilante considered that for a moment. “Sure,” he agreed.

And so they did, just like old times. He didn’t think Finn knew just how much he appreciated this, because who knew how many more times they would get to do this in the future?

One thing was for certain: Jack was going to make sure to savor every moment of it while he could.