No Rain Today [Umbrella Academy AU]

XII: New Normal

Emerson
~~
At school, I was heading towards my English class when I spotted a familiar dark hair girl. Figuring I would cut it close to the bell, I rushed over to her.

"Shy!" I called.

She turned at the sound of my voice, her eyes lighting up as she saw me.

"Peachy!" She beamed, rushing to meet me.

We collided into a deep embrace.

My mind was thrusted back to that day...

I could feel her eyes meet mine in the dark.

"Can I make a confession?" She asked quietly.

I nodded, then caught myself since she couldn't see it, "Of course."

I heard her take a deep breath.

"I didn't believe in 'love at first sight' at first, but...something happened when we met for the first time, when you brought the guitar back with Andrew. I—I felt our energies align, complimenting each other in a perfect harmony. You probably don't feel the same, I just feel like you should know. You made me rethink my own philosophy. You made me believe in love..."

And I kissed her, taking her into my arms as I did so.

"Is your class nearby?" We asked at the same time.

"Yeah, I'm just around the corner. You?"

"Downstairs, next to the stairs," she laughed.

I held her hand as I smirked and led her to the staircase. I could see a deep blush on her cheeks. Reaching her classroom, I kissed her goodbye and rushed back up the stairs to make it to my class.

I made it by the last ring of the bell.

After class, I ran into Kara.

"Hey!" I called.

She turned, "Oh, hi Emerson. You have class around here?"

"Not exactly, I have to pass through the library to get to it."

She put something in my hand, "Natalie told me to give this to Remington, but since I ran into you, I guess you can get it to him faster, huh?"

I looked down at my palm and saw a folded piece of paper with lipstick markings in the shape of...a kiss.

Aww, big brother Remy's got an admirer.

"Lucky for everyone, I see him around this time. Thanks Kara."

"I'll let Nati know."

I made a couple turns and went up another flight of stairs and saw Remington. I rushed over to him.

"Emerson, what's up?"

I handed him Natalie's note, which he opened up immediately with a little confusion on his face. As he read, his expression changed, growing softer until he smiled fondly.

"Natalie..." He said softly, with a look of affection in his eyes.

"Emerson, how did you get this?"

"A chain of 'pass the note'. How'd you know it was from her?"

He blushed, "Uhh, now's not the time. We can talk about it later."

I chuckled and went on my way.

~ ~~ ~~~ ~~ ~

After school, as I waited outside for my brothers, I saw Natalie waiting by a tree in the distance. She looked confused yet nervous. I then saw Rem approach the same spot with the same expression.

They met each other's eyes, they smiled a bit awkwardly and started talking.

"Remington found a someone special, huh?" I heard behind me, followed by a familiar chuckle.

Andrew and Seb walked up, messenger bags slung across their shoulders.

"We should probably give them some space," Sebastian motioned to follow him.

We walked outside the gates and went to the opposite end of the schoolyard from where our brother was.

Half an hour passed before Remington came towards us.

"You guys are still here?"

"Yeah, you two were probably the last two to leave campus. Even the teachers are gone."

"My bad, I didn't think we'd take long. We should definitely head home now though."

"It is patrol night."

After we had dinner, we got into our costumes and left to stake out the town.

Nothing much happened that night besides a young couple being mugged by the park.

The lovers recognized us as the ones who helped out with the stolen guitar.

"Thanks for all you do!" They shouted towards us as we left.

Not long after that, we spent the last few minutes in the bell tower of the local church.

"It's an eerie feeling, having 4 protectors in this smallish town where not a lot goes on. I mean, crime is pretty low already; even so, it's usually out of towners that want to disturb the peace here," Sebastian.

"Or townspeople that are just jackasses," added Emerson.

"That's a good thing though," Andrew began, "It just means Calypso is a town filled with good people."

"Yeah, but even so, no one's safe from those with bad intentions."

Our patrol ended and we returned to the Palais.

I went into my room and pondered for a bit before I fell asleep.

Things had changed quite a bit: we weren't alone in carrying this burden of a secret, nor were we alone at all anymore, but most notably, my brothers and I had all gone from secluded kids born with strange powers to self-titled protectors of this small town.

This was our new life, and I knew, deep down, we would be selfish in wanting to keep it this way.

____________________
[A/N] So this has been in my drafts for quite some time now...

School has been tough on top of lots of stuff happening in my personal life simultaneously. I've also had to rework the outline for this story to better make sense and to be able to write/execute it well. Thanks for y'all's support and patience though!

-PW13