"Hey Lauren!" Lindsay called out and she was walking into the Strucker house with the key that the older Strucker sibling had provided her.
"Lindsay, I need fashion help for tonight ASAP! Get your ass up here!" Lauren was hollering from her room upstairs as Lindsay laughed at the words and she was taking off up the stairs, after putting the huge dish full of food onto the countertop nearby.
"What's the problem?" Lindsay asked and she was putting her jacket down nearby and Lauren groaned.
"Jack won't help me pick an outfit between these two." Lauren held up an orange outfit and a blue one as she was shaking her head at her. "Help me!" Lauren begged and then Lindsay was laughing at her expression and she was shaking her head.
"You look better in the blue." Lindsay said decisively after a second or two of silence on her part.
"Thank you!" Lauren said as she hung up the orange outfit again. "See, Jack? That is how you choose an outfit." Lindsay felt awkward when she looked around Lauren to see that Jack was still on the line.
"Hey Jack." Lindsay said with an awkward wave to her ex, who was nodding slightly at her.
They may have both parted on amicable terms after Lindsay had come out as bi, but there was still awkwardness and there often was. Especially since Lindsay practically lived with the Strucker family, ever since her brother got carted off to a detention center.
After Jack had hung up, Lindsay was turning around to listen as the door opened and she stopped in her tracks briefly, her hands opened and ready. "I'm home!" It was only Caitlin Strucker, which caused Lindsay to relax as she put her hands down.
Lauren slowly shut the door and she was looking at Lindsay, who was now nodding slightly in understanding. "Are you doing okay?" Lauren asked and Lindsay looked at her own hands, which were trembling.
"It is a lot harder for me, right around this time of the year. You know that Lauren, and honestly? I think that just about everybody knows it." Lindsay replied evenly as Lauren moved her arms around her while Lindsay's eyes flashed and she returned the hug. "Are you still hidin' it from your family?" Lindsay asked and Lauren nodded quickly.
"You don't know what it is like, living in a house with a man who actually prosecutes mutants." Lauren shook her head. "You don't get it, Linds. He prosecutes people like us."
"I know." Lindsay murmured softly and then, she was shaking her head. "He is the one that put my brother away, remember? I mean, they had a fucking muzzle on him, in that courtroom." Lindsay's anger, pain and just sheer rage was boiling, just underneath her skin.
"I know." Lauren murmured softly as she was grabbing one of Lindsay's hands in both of hers. "I know, Linds. You can go outside and you can scream it out later but for now, I just need you to hang on. Please?" She said softly and Lindsay squeezed her eyes shut at the words, before she nodded quickly.
"Okay." Lindsay whispered and they were both walking down the stairs and Lindsay was greeted by Caitlin Strucker and the younger one Andy, who gave her a hug. "I know that you're having a rough go at the school, but you can always count on me for help." Lindsay reassured him and Andy was hugging her again.
They were all eating and Andy was quickly digging into the food container, that Lindsay had cooked and brought for them all.
"I meant your classes. Anything interesting?" Caitlin asked and Lauren nearly choked at the words from Andy about how his day was bad, because his parents were there.
Lindsay kicked Lauren in the shin as she was shaking her head at her, understanding almost exactly how Andy was feeling at the moment.
"We had a debate in social studies today about the law they want to make, in order to test people with the X-gene and, like, monitor them. I don't know." Lauren's eyes went over to Lindsay, who was clenching a fist tightly around her fork. "Anyway, this one kid was, like, freaking out. I guess that his cousin's a mutie or something." Lindsay stabbed her fork down into the table at the offensive term for mutants and all three of the Struckers jumped at the noise.
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¹ Roar || The Gifted: John Proudstar
Fanfiction"I never thought that I'd see the day, when we would ever hear you roar again." ~~~~~ It had been years since they had seen each other. One enlisted in the military, the other became a licensed therapist. When one fell into a dark hole that seemed t...
