A year and fourteen roommates later I finally had a room to myself.
Or rather, the roommate I was supposed to have was on an extended mission and wouldn't be back for several months. The first boy, who's name I learned was Pietro and who could run faster then sound, only lasted a week.
He had tried to be friendly and when that didn't work had tried to stay out of my way as much as he could in the tiny room. But he finally requested a transfer when all of his running shoes, somehow, had the soles melted.
They tried his sister next, Wanda.
A beautiful and fascinating girl with extraordinary powers. She was moody and never even tried to talk to me, something I appreciated. She lasted longer then her brother but when I had accidentally seen an intimate moment shared between them she all but disappeared.
Given their history it wasn't surprising that they had formed a non-conventional bond. I wouldn't have said anything, I was in no position to judge who people loved. But I was glad to have an empty room again.
That lasted an entire week before the next person appeared. They at least had the decency to look slightly afraid of me as I had made it known that anyone who was assigned to my room better be prepared to fight for it. Some were harder to scare off then others, but eventually they all requested a transfer.
And now, finally, I was to have a room to myself for a few months. The past year had been difficult. Not in the training aspect as some might have assumed, but rather the sleeping aspect. Even the slightest noise in my room sent an image of the room and all it's contents to my head. But fortunately I had perfected the art of the power nap.
Napping between meals and training was hard at first but once I got used to it, it actually worked better then I could have hoped. It left my nights free to explore the compound and make a map of all the areas they didn't want us in. Of course thanks to my gifts I didn't even need to go in the restricted areas to see what was going on in them. But much to my disappointment nothing interesting was happening.
The only remotely interesting thing that had happened was I did make a friend. And even more surprising is that it was Wanda. We had been pared up in training and at first she wouldn't even look at me but she fought me like a bat out of hell. And I pride myself in being able to hold my own but after she almost broke my arm, without using her powers, I finally had had enough so I cornered her one day after training.
Throwing her against the wall with a sskaaa I stood over her as she struggled to get to her knees. "I don't know what your problem is but I'm getting tired of being your punching bag." Her hands started to glow as she started to stand, but with another sskaaa she was back on the floor, "and I don't know if you're trying to, but you're seriously starting to piss me off." She started to glow again and I warned, "I really wouldn't do that if I were you."
She sighed and let the glow die as she sat back against the wall. I hadn't really expected her to give up this fast but when her shoulders started to shake I almost felt bad. Sitting next to her I asked, "why were you so angry at me? Sure I got both you and brother kicked out of my room but it was nothing personal."
"You saw," she said softly.
"Saw what?" She didn't respond and then it hit me, "oh, that. Whatever, like I care." I smirk slightly, "were you really trying to intimidate me?" She nodded slightly and I laughed, "it didn't work but you get an A for effort."
She looked at me, "you really don't care?"
I scoff, "why should I care who you fuck? I come from a planet where our dna chooses a mate for us and we have no say in it. At least you got to choose."
"We do not... fuck," she said slowly, her her cheeks darkening. We know it is wrong to love each other as we do. What we have is not sexual, we would not cross that line. We would not risk a child or the persecution of people finding that out," she tried to explain.
Picking at my nails I say, "humans are a weird species. As long as it's two consenting adults who cares." I take a chance and bump her shoulder with mine, "besides, given what you guys went through, I'm not so sure others wouldn't have done the same."
"Perhaps," she said softly.
And that's how Wanda and I became sort of friends and by extension, me and Pietro. Thankfully neither of them tried to be roommates with me again and they even helped me try and get rid of them when I explained why I didn't like having one. And even though I hate to admit it, it was nice to have someone to talk to. Not that I told them much, but Pietro talked enough for all of us.
And once a month we were allowed to have a free day to do with as we wished. Usually we went out to the nearby town since we could all pass for human. But since I have a room to myself for the moment I convinced them to go without me. It would be good for them to spend time together without a third wheel.
So there I was, sound asleep, when The door banging open and the light flicking on woke me up. "Fuck off," I groaned into my pillow, "I told you I'm not going to town with you guys today." When nobody answered I focused on the woman who had barged into my room. An image of a woman wearing a black catsuit and who had a large duffel bag that she was currently rummaging through. "Who are you?"
"Agent Romanoff," she answered without turning around.
Shit. "Thought you weren't due back for another month."
"That's classified."
"Whatever," I mumbled as I buried my head deeper in my pillow. "Turn off the light when you leave." She didn't answer and left a few minutes later, leaving the light on. Bitch, I thought as I got up and slammed the door, turning off the light and going back to bed.
Unfortunately for me, sleep did not return, so I decided to shower and go beat up a punching bag. Grabbing some of my things I head to the locker room and crank the hot water up, letting it burn my skin. When I'd finally had enough I headed back to my locker, putting on the patches that I have in steady supply. I'd ditched the makeshift blindfold after the first training session when it had been ripped off. Luckily for me, medical had some fake skin patches that they said I could use. It was itchy at first, the adhesive pulling at my skin, but they didn't fall off and I felt more secure wearing just them then a piece of fabric.
Changing into my workout clothes I headed for the gym. Since it was a free day it was mostly empty and I headed straight for the punching bags where a familiar woman was already beating one up. Taking my place at one next to her I said, "you didn't turn off the light," hitting the bag when I said light.
"Never said I would," she replied between punches.
Hitting my bag harder I replied, "just common courtesy."
"Can't have the new recruits sleeping the day away."
"Yeah well considering it's the only day I can actually sleep without noise, I'd say I'm allowed to," I bite out as I angrily hit the bag, imagining it's Romanoffs face.
"Imagining that's me?" She asks as if she can read my mind.
Giving it another punch I say, "absolutely."
She stops her bag and looks over at me, "care to test your skills on the real thing? I think you'll find that I can fight better than that bag."
I grin, "I doubt that."
"Really?"
"Yup. I bet I can beat you with my eyes closed," I tell her sarcastically, gesturing to my covered eyes.
"You're on," she says as she waves a few people over. After telling them what we were doing they grin like crazy. Either in support of me or Romanoff I didn't know, but I did know that this was going to be easy. Unless somehow she could see with her eyes covered, but I doubted that.
Stepping into the ring with Romanoff, someone comes up behind us and ties a blindfold on each of us, just to make sure I don't peak around my patches. As we are about to start she says, "hang on. To make it fair you need to wear these, and I'll do the same." She holds out a set of earplugs and my heart sinks. She must sense my hesitation because she smiles smugly, "unless you're afraid."
I grab them out of her surprisingly soft hands and growl, "why would I be afraid of you Romanoff." Putting in one of the plugs, the image of the room dims considerable and when I put in the other my eyesight goes dark. Vibrations of someone hitting the mat starting the match are my only warning before I'm getting flipped onto my back and pinned.
The woman was weirdly strong and no matter how much I struggled I couldn't get out of the hold. Having no choice I tapped on her arm and she immediately let me go. Ripping out the plugs and taking off the blindfold I found Romanoff looking at me. Not smugly like I was expecting but confused, "I thought they said you could fight."
"I can!" I explode, "but not when all my senses are muted!"
"In case you forgot mine were too."
"Yeah you probably cheated," I mutter as I leave the ring and start to walk away.
"I didn't, but you can think that if it helps you sleep." I didn't even need to look to know that she was grinning.