"What are we learning today, Jean?" 22-year-old Dia asked the woman as she slipped in Jean's empty classroom and took a seat on the desk in front of her desk where she's grading the pop quizzes she gave at the start of the class. She's not just the school doctor, but she teaches politics, and also gives Rhys and Dia private lessons. Lessons that have been going on for 5 years now but everyone is still learning. Everyone in the School for the Gifted is a student, even the professors.
"Where's Rhys?" Dia heard Jean ask in her head, the woman didn't look up from the five-question pop quiz she's grading.
"Escaping death. Lola almost dropped another anvil on him" Dia answered in her mind, her fingers playing with the golden chain around her neck.
Just then Rhys entered the room as he kept glancing over his shoulder to make sure none of Lola's looney things isn't following him. "Someone needs to confiscate Lola's pencils. She's out there bringing DoodleBob to life"
"Me hoy minoy" Dia said.
"Stop it right there" Rhys warned as he took a seat in the desk next to Dia.
"Now that Rhys is here...what are we learning today? How to mess with people's minds?" Dia jokingly asked Jean, and Rhys chuckled.
"Yes" Jean answered and set her red pen down. Dia and Rhys stopped chuckling and looked up at Jean in slight confusion.
"What?" They asked.
"Are- are you serious? 'Cause I was just joking" Dia told Jean.
"No. I'm serious" Jean nodded, stood up and walked around the desk to better face Dia and Rhys. "I'm not as powerful as Charles, but I'm going to teach you what I know. Up until now we've been focusing more on telekinesis, and empathy, now its time to move on. Besides, I know Charles already gave you some lectures on telepathy, now its time to apply them"
"This is so cool!" Rhys grinned, his eyes sparkling with amusement. "Oh! Are you going to teach us how you mess with someone's mind so they can't see us?"
"Mhm" Jean nodded.
"Scott won't know what hit him" Rhys smirked.
"Why does everyone have something against Scott?" Dia wondered out loud. "I still can't believe Jonathan put a sign outside the greenhouse saying 'Scott Summers banned for life'"
"As Lola says, 'Scott has the touch of death' He killed a fake plant once" Jean informed.
"How do you kill a fake plant?" Rhys and Dia asked at the same time and Jean shrugged.
·𖥸·
Dia laid on the couch with her legs on Bucky's lap. She smiled as that particular memory came to mind and then remembered how when she first arrived at the compound, she messed with everyone's minds so they couldn't see her. Well only those she knows could see her, but it was fun seeing them trying to figure out why nobody else could see her. Jean Grey shouldn't have taught her how to mess with people's minds. Scott Summers was victim to Rhys' antics, while the Avengers were Dia's.
She turned her head to her left where her eyes landed on Pietro who's laying on the floor, hands on his chest and eyes glued on the ceiling. He had five cookies and is the highest of the group. He's probably on another level of high, he's reached nirvana. He's extremely calm and isn't moving around like the others, he's quiet, has a small smile on his face and is staring at the ceiling in peace, completely oblivious to his surroundings. He may on occasion burst into tears but Pietro Maximoff is high once again.
"Look at him, he's so out of it" Rhodey smiled. Pietro reached out to the ceiling as he tried to touch something. Maybe in his mind he did because he's now moving his fingers in a stroking manner and chuckling.
"Yep, that's what you get for eating weed cookies" Natasha shook her head.
A gasp pulled her and the sober ones to Joshua who's resting his head on Sarah's shoulder. His eyes are wide and his jaw is dropped in shock, he then slowly lifted his head from Sarah's shoulder and softly said, "addition works so well. Think about it, I mean really think about it. Oh my God, it's beautiful!" In an instant, he began to cry and Sarah had to bite her bottom lip to keep from laughing. Sam, on the other hand, is howling in laughter.
Joshua's loud sobs echoed in the room and when they reached Pietro's ears, it triggered something in him and he once again began to cry.
"Pietro is a fountain!" Wanda gasped in fascination.
"Do you think pigeons have feelings?" Isaura asked no one in particular.
"Oh crap" Natasha breathed out. "I forgot to take her phone. She better not have sent orders to her residents or nurses" she walked over to Isaura and asked for her phone.
"Isa once made an intern cry" Dia mumbled, eyes still on a crying Pietro. In a split second she began to cry, joining Pietro and Joshua. "When I was 5 she told me I was adopted!"
"What a bunch of criers" Thor shook his head. A pillow flew his way and hit him right in the face. He tried to tell off the thrower but he didn't see who it was, but he did hear the chuckles of his friends.
Bucky grabbed Dia's hands, pulled her up and back on his lap where she buried her face in his neck and he passed his fingers through her hair. He can smell her strawberry shampoo. Dia continued to cry but she had already forgotten about what. She reached up to touch the tears on her cheek and sniffled. "Why are my eyes leaking?"
A loud tearing of cloth was heard, followed by a panicked 'uhhhh' The two teenage girls giggled loudly from the corner of the room they sat in and Peter suddenly shot up and frantically waved his hand around, a long piece of cloth stuck to his hand.
"Why won't it come off? Why is my hand so sticky?" Peter cried as he desperately pulled on the cloth with his free hand only for it to be stuck on it as well. Both of his hands are stuck. "Help!" He wailed.
"You have super sticky powers!" Bruce gasped, his brown eyes wide and innocent "what are you?"
"Burn the witch!" T'Challa exclaimed.
"Moments like these I'm grateful I don't eat" Vision commented as his eyes traveled from one high person to the next.
Natasha went over to help Peter and Sam laughed at him. Biscuit went from person to person, bringing them joy and comfort. Joshua who has calmed down is now laying his head on Sarah's lap and she's threading her fingers through his soft hair. He's mumbling something but no one can understand him. Dia stopped crying but Bucky is still holding her close to him, softly stroking her hair and she's mumbling something.
"What's that?" Bucky leaned closer to Dia who has her head on his shoulder.
"Hast du etwas Zeit für mich
Dann singe ich ein Lied für dich
Von neunundneunzig Luftballons" she softly said.
Bucky furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "You know German? I didn't know-" but he was interrupted when Tony entered the room.
"Guys" Tony called out as he entered the room. Steve is right behind him, dragging his feet and eating a piece of toast. "I don't think I need my neck anymore"
"Oh my God!" Rhodes exclaimed and held back his laughter. "He had a cookie!"
"Shh!" Steve shushed with a frown. "I can't taste my toast"
There was a moment of silence as they processed what's happening. Tony entered the room, declaring that he doesn't need his neck anymore while Steve told them to be quiet because he can't taste his toast. That had the same energy as lowering your music to see something better.
"Steve is high!" Bucky exclaimed with a wide smile. Right there and then, Sam Wilson declared that day the best day of his life.
"Did you two have cookies Isa was passing around?" Bucky's voice is laced with laughter.
"Yes. They were so good. Are they any left?" Steve asked his friend. Bucky chuckled and shook his head. Rhodey lead Steve and Tony to sit with the others that consumed the cookies.
"Neunundneunzig Luftballons!" Joshua sang loudly.
"Neunundneunzig Luftballons!" Dia joined.
"Oh, it's a song" Bucky said in realization. "Still, great pronunciation"
Dia turned on Bucky's lap so she's now facing everyone in the room, with a small smile on her face. "Hey, do you guys know that Rhys' middle name is Noble?"
"Yes" they answered.
"And Bucky's last name is Barnes. Get it? Barnes and Noble" She giggled hysterically and the stoned people gasped as if they just heard the biggest revelation of the century. She then pressed her back to Bucky's chest and rested her head next to Bucky's.
"Are you sure you only had one cookie?" Bucky brushed Dia's hair out of her face and placed a soft kiss on her cheek.
"Si" she breathed out.
Bucky smiled and adjusted his arms around Dia and pressed multiple kisses to her cheek. Loud popping kisses that made her giggle.
"Sneks are angry ropes with faces. They don't have any hands. They just slither on the ground" Steve pouted. "Is that why they're called Slytherin?"
"They're angry noodles" Tony commented. "Or danger noodles?"
"Did Steve just say 'sneks'?" Vision questioned.
"Burn the witch!" Bruce and T'Challa exclaimed.
"Boo bitch!" Wanda yelled.
"When did Jesse Pinkman get here?" Joshua questioned, his head still on Sarah's lap.
"Josh-ua. Josh-uah! Josh-wa! Joshua" Dia pronounced the name differently each time, almost as if she's hearing it for the first time and is trying to figure out how it sounds when she says it. "Josie"
"No!" Joshua frowned.
"Boo, you whore!" Tony yelled.
"You go, Glen Coco!" Isaura joined. This elicited laughs from the people that are high.
"Yep, I'm leaving" Rhodey stood up.
"Me too" Thor joined the man and they walked out of the room.
"You never answered my question, Bucky" Dia told Bucky. Her hands over his and she fiddled with his fingers.
"What question?" Bucky asked.
"Do you moan as beautiful as you look?" She repeated. Bucky felt his face get warm. Why is she like this when she's high but not when she's normal? The answer lays in the question. Dia is high and probably the only time to have the nerve to say that.
"Uh..." Bucky nervously looked around the room, not sure how to answer that.
"Boo, you whore!"
"Boo bitch!" The group yelled at Bucky when he didn't give an answer.
"Oh, oh! I have a question!" Joshua raised his hand and lifted his head as he sat up on the couch. He turned his gaze to T'Challa and asked, "if you're Black Panther, is there a Pink Panther?"
"I sure hope there is" T'Challa answered without missing a beat.
"They're probably out there with Tony the Tiger" Isaura mumbled.
It was a while until they started to get the munchies and began to come down. Fortunately, Natasha prepared for that moment so she set out food for the munchies and even then they were still cracking jokes. Pablo arrived sometime during the mess, Natasha sent him a text explaining what happened. And honestly when he saw it with his own two eyes, he thought it was one of the best things he's ever seen.
There weren't any drawing lessons at 1800 hours that day.
·𖥸·
There are ptsd stuff no one talks about. It's not all nightmares, anxiety, flashbacks, uncontrollable thoughts, etc. Sometimes things can gET TOO LOUD!! Or waking up in the middle of the night and being somewhere else for a few seconds. Like when Dia has the dreams of her drowning and she wakes up in a cold sweat. It takes her a couple of seconds to come to, catch her breath and realize that she's not underwater. She's safe in her bed and Biscuit joins her.
Randomly teleporting to bad places for a few seconds while going about your day. At the beginning of the story when Dia was out in the city taking pictures, she was momentarily transported to a bad place in her life. Not the car falling off the Golden Gate Bridge, but it was buildings coming down and the floor beneath her was shaking violently. It only lasted a little while, mere seconds, but for a moment she felt she teleported there.
Not enough showers. After Jonathan died, Dia couldn't stop taking showers. She was covered in dirt, and sweat and blood. His blood, her blood. So she scrubbed and scrubbed until her skin was raw. She had to get it off. She had to get the blood off. It didn't matter how many showers she took, they were never enough.
Avoidance. For a long time, Dia avoided cars. She wouldn't get in them. Not even when she left the hospital. In fact, she was so worked up about it, one of the doctors offered to sedate her so she could go home. If it would've been up to her she would've walked home from the hospital, but she wasn't strong enough to walk long distances, she was still recovering. So she took the sedation and when she woke up she was in her bed. Dia never cared to learn how to drive, she still doesn't, but at least she gets in cars again. But sometimes, even if she doesn't notice, sometimes she walks to places instead of taking a cab or an Uber.
Sleep is for the w e a k. Bucky and Tony can late to that one, and sometimes Dia. Their dreams, their nightmares. Sometimes it's better to stay awake than to be tortured by their own subconscious. And then they can wallow in self-pity and play the self-blame game.
Dia isn't sure why she began to think these thoughts while she was outside the Moonlight Rollerway, but they just came to her. She has her yellow moxi skates on and is playing with her fingers as she rolled down the smooth pavement. She can't bring herself to go inside because one, Bucky and Joshua were out all day, bonding and being family, and two, she's in the middle of an anxiety attack and being inside a crowded building doesn't help.
So while Dia was outside with her own thoughts, the Avengers are inside having fun. She took deep breaths as she tried to calm herself but it isn't working. Oh, how she wished Biscuit was there. Why did Isaura decide today to take him to the hospital to cheer up the kids? Then she wished Bucky was there because he told her that when she feels her anxiety acting up, she can grab his hands and play with his fingers to calm himself. He also knows how writing helps her, so he also told her she can write or draw on his arm. But unfortunately Bucky still isn't there and Dia feels like crying.
"Hey" Sarah called Dia as she skated out the side door and rolled up to Dia.
"Hi" she replied and continued to fumble with her fingers.
Sarah drifted her eyes to her hands and saw what she's doing. She glanced up at her face and saw Dia chewing on her bottom lip, a look of distress across her face. She knows about Dia's anxiety attacks, and even tho she may seem normal on the outside, her mind, her body is one big mess on the inside. Sarah held her hands out for Dia, which she took with shaky hands.
"You know," Sarah began "when Sam would get in a similar state, I would try to get his mind off his, well mind" she chuckled "thinking about something else helped him" they held hands as Dia slowly moved backward and Sarah is slowly moving forward.
"How?" Dia asked.
"Well I would tell him, name five ocean animals"
"Whales" Dia began "dolphins, sharks, fish, and...jellyfish"
Sarah smiled and nodded. "Great. Now tell me seven safari animals"
"Uh, giraffe. Josh likes giraffes"
"He does" Sarah nodded.
"Zebra, elephant, cheetah...lion, uh, what else? Um, rhino, and buffalo" Dia finished.
"Yes!" They turned around and slowly skated back to their original spot, never letting go of their hands. "Now tell me five Amazon rainforest animals"
"Who can name five Amazon rainforest animals?" Dia questioned.
"You wanna name the flowers?" Sarah challenged.
"Jaguar" Dia immediately said. She'd rather name animals than flowers. She's not even sure if she can name any flowers located in the Amazon rainforest. "Macaw, uh, uh" she licked her lips and thought "frogs, sloths, and uh, capybara!"
"What about ten types of fish?" Sarah suggested.
"Any fish?" Dia asked. Sarah hummed in confirmation. "Clownfish, yellow tailed blue tang...one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish" she joked.
"Oh my God" Sarah mumbled. "Sam did the same thing once"
Dia laughed at that and went back to naming types of fish. "Okay, okay. I said, clownfish, yellow tailed blue tang, yellow tang, royal gramma, moorish idol, porcupine pufferfish, black and white damselfish, longnose butterflyfish, seahorse and anglerfish"
Sarah stared at Dia with a deadpanned expression. They stopped moving but they're still holding hands. "Did you really just name the Finding Nemo fish?"
"Yes. I like this game" Dia smiled widely.
"Hmm. Are you feeling better?" They turned around and slowly skated back.
"I am actually" Dia nodded.
"Good" Sarah looked behind Dia's shoulder and saw Joshua and Bucky walking over to them. "Because depending on what happens next, you're probably going to flip"
"Why would I-" but she was cut short when Sarah turned her around so she can see the two men behind her.
She first saw Joshua with his stupid face and stupid smile. Nothing out of the ordinary with him, but then her gaze shifted to Bucky and her jaw dropped as she gasped. Her left hand is still holding Sarah's hand, so her free hand flew to her mouth as she tried to process what she's seeing with Bucky.
"Wha-? Wh-? Blrgh. Que? What? Why? Wha? Pourquoi? What? What? Wha-? What?" She squealed at the end and seemed to choke on her own tongue.
"She did that same noise when Danny cut off his curls" Joshua pointed out.
"You cut your hair?" Dia asked Bucky, not in shock because that's an understatement. Scandalized? No, no. Dumbfounded. Bewildered. Perplexed. Befuddled.
Nonplus.
Dia Castillo is nonplus.
"Yeah. I thought it was time" Bucky answered. "Why? Don't you like it?"
"It looks great! It's just...surprising? I'm flabbergasted. But you look great. So, so great" Dia smiled.
Suddenly she remembered another ptsd thing no one talks about. It slapped her across the face and opened her eyes.
Gotta cut your hair. Gotta cut your hair. Chop chop chop.